Chương 68: Chapter 66

As the plane approached the airport, I got my first look at Lumiose City through the window. Lumiose City was the largest city I had ever seen, and that was somehow an understatement. Instead of building up with skyscrapers and towers, this city expanded outwards with numerous three or four story buildings that resembled European architecture.

There were several concentric circles that served as major avenues, as well as several "spokes" of slightly narrower streets that connected the edges of the city to the center. Like other cities I had seen in the past, there was a sudden cut-off at the edge where the city stopped and nature began. The one exception I noticed was a single location I saw on the south side, where a few buildings stretched out between the space of the southwest and southeast routes that lead into Lumiose.

The biggest point of interest was a large shining tower at the very center of the city. It looked similar to the Eiffel Tower, but instead of being a construction of dark steel beams and connectors, it was white and sealed off with glass windows, creating a number of rooms within. Even this late at night, the entire tower was lit up from the inside and easily visible even this far away. From my knowledge of the games, I knew the tower had a special name I couldn't remember, and housed the Gym for this city.

Unfortunately, when it came to Kalos, my knowledge of the region was a lot less in depth than other regions. The sixth generation of Pokémon games had come out when I was younger, and it hadn't garnered my interest as much as the other games. Seeing Pokémon in three dimensions was cool, but in the end, I only played through the Kalos games a single time. That wasn't a bad thing, though, since it just meant I had even more to see within the region.

The plane touched down and soon, I disembarked with the rest of the passengers, finally able to retrieve my Pokémon's Pokéballs from where they were stored in their case. I chose to send out Ninetales first, knowing she would be the most interested in seeing a new place. As I walked through the airport, Ninetales bounded around as her head snapped to every new little thing she saw.

A number of other trainers mimicked my action as well, taking their Pokéballs out of the provided case and sending one of them out to walk with them. The Pokémon all stretched and yawned as if waking up from a nap, and I couldn't help but to feel a bit jealous. I was dead tired, having been up for about twenty hours at this point. I wanted to go to Sycamore's lab, find a room, and go to sleep. When I moved to the exit of the airport, a sign with my name on it caught my eye.

It was held up by an older man in a coat and a cabbie hat, and he looked just as tired as me. He yawned when I approached.

"Alex, right? Professor Sycamore hired me to take you to the lab. Come on, let's go." I followed him without argument, yawning in reaction to his, and Ninetales and I entered the taxi cab that would take us to our destination. I was unsure how long it took us to reach Sycamore's lab, since I ended up falling asleep during the trip. I was suddenly woken up a while later from the freezing sensation of Ninetales's nose being pressed to my arm, and we exited after thanking the driver.

Professor Sycamore's lab was an older building repurposed to serve as his headquarters for research. It was large and resembled a mansion, and had a number of carved stone decorations across the front and around the windows. Attached to it at regular points was a series of lightbulbs that lit it up in the dead of the night, and there were still lit up rooms within, implying that people were still awake and working.

A closed front gate separated the property from the street itself, and I approached it and hit the glowing button for the intercom. It buzzed without anyone picking up, so I waited a minute then tried again. Shivering, I glanced down at Ninetales who was calmly sitting next to me. She seemed unbothered by the cold of the night, and was currently staring at the bright central tower, still visible even this far away.

I yawned again and stretched, barely able to keep my eyes open, when all of a sudden the doors to the lab swung open, revealing Professor Sycamore in the blue button down shirt and white lab coat he usually wore.

"Wonderful! You've arrived at last! It's a pleasure to finally meet you in person," he said. Professor Sycamore strode up to the gate, opened it up without needing to unlock it, and I shook his outstretched hand.

"You're the first to arrive of the next set of trainers visiting to help with my Mega Evolution research. Everyone who was slated for February has already left, so you'll be the only trainer here for the next week, just about. I'm rather looking forward to seeing how a trainer with your knowledge of Mega Evolution Mega Evolves their Pokémon. Are you willing to demonstrate it right now?" I looked at Sycamore, slowly blinking a single time with exhaustion clear on my face.

He stared back, smiling, until he finally put two and two together, then chuckled.

"Ah yes, sorry about that. I got so caught up with finally having a trainer to help me again, I completely forgot that you must be exhausted. Come in, come in. I'll show you to your room and give you the tour tomorrow." I simply followed him as he entered, and Ninetales leaned against my side to help support me in my tiredness. Soon enough, I was led to a wing specifically set aside for guest rooms, and promptly fell onto the bed, asleep, leaving the task of releasing everyone to Ninetales.

I woke up the next morning sweating. I groggily opened my eyes only to see that Altaria and Whimsicott had fallen asleep on top of me, acting as the blanket I hadn't even bothered to throw over myself. Ninetales was laying down at the foot of the bed, just beginning to wake up at the same time as me. When I looked over at the rest of the room, everyone else was awake and eating from several bowls of Pokémon food already laid out for them.

I patted Altaria and Whimsicott's head to wake them up, and they both immediately hopped off of me to eat the food on the floor. Ninetales lifted up her head with her eyes closed, not fully awake enough to comprehend what was going on. Now that I had a bit more energy again, I finally had time to take in the room that would serve as my temporary home for the next month or so. It was a decently sized room, much larger than any room I had slept in at a Pokémon Center.

The bed was big enough that I needed to stretch to reach both ends, and there was a wardrobe against the wall for what clothes they assumed I had but didn't. There wasn't a television or computer, like in a Pokémon Center, and no separate bathroom, either. It was literally just a bedroom and nothing else. Stretching, I stood up and reached into my backpack for a change of clothes. As I did so, I noticed there was a plate of pancakes next to the bed with a note beside it.

I paused, mouth watering at the scent of a proper breakfast, and grabbed the note to quickly read it over. Alex, When you're ready, we'd like to see you attempt to Mega Evolve Altaria as soon as possible. Meet us in the garden when you're free. -Sycamore. I grabbed the plate and began eating as fast as I could as I walked over to a large window that looked out into the space behind Professor Sycamore's lab.

Rather than a courtyard, like I expected, it seems that Professor Sycamore's lab actually took up the entire city block, and the space between all of the buildings was enclosed with a glass top and served as an indoor garden. It was filled with plants and Pokémon, including species like a number of Combee flying around, as well as a trio of Azurill playing with each other. Each one of them were smiling and happy, and I glanced over to Azumarill who was glaring at her meal as if she wanted it to die.

There were also a number of Kalos-native Pokémon present as well, like a stationary Spewpa and a few Helioptile basking in the sunlight, but none were that large. It seemed that this place was more of a sanctuary for wild Pokémon rather than where Sycamore's sponsored Pokémon were kept. Noticing Professor Sycamore and a woman with a maroon bob cut were already out there, setting up some devices, I quickly inhaled the rest of the pancakes, and called out to the rest of my team.

"Alright everyone, I'm not sure what Ninetales told you last night, but welcome to Kalos! We'll be staying here for the next few months, and in Lumiose specifically for the immediate one. Professor Sycamore is researching Mega Evolution, so Altaria and I will be getting a lot of practice. Otherwise, I'll try to find a list of attractions this city has to offer, and we can take turns choosing what we'll do each day. Sound good?"

Everyone responded with sounds of acknowledgement, except for Ninetales who just slowly continued to eat her food. I briefly stepped out of the room to go to a bathroom to change and get ready for the day, where I struggled to find the door but eventually managed to locate it just down the hall. Once ready, I returned to give all of my Pokémon a quick once-over with their appropriate grooming kits, then headed out. Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

I half remembered an entrance to the garden from when I passed it by last night, and led my train of seven Pokémon down to it. I ended up taking a wrong turn somewhere, and bumped into a woman that looked to be Professor Sycamore's age with long, blue-black hair and a pair of red glasses, right when I turned a corner. After stumbling and apologizing as much as I could, the woman laughed and started to walk past me.

"You must be Alex. Got lost finding the entrance to the garden? Come on, I'll show you the way." Nodding, I quickly moved to follow the woman, and my team followed me as well. It looked a little ridiculous before to see so many Pokémon following along before, and now with another person added, it looked even more so.

"You know my name, but I don't know what to call you," I said to the woman as we walked.

"Oh? Leave it to Augustine to forget the basics after being so caught up in his research. I'm Sophie, I work with Augustine - that's Professor Sycamore's first name, by the way - as an assistant while I pursue my own research. Generally speaking, I focus on finding ways our research can be used to help heal Pokémon. I had been theorizing that Audino's Mega Evolution would massively enhance its healing potential, and was proven right when you shared that list of yours. Thank you for that, by the way."

I blinked and stumbled where I was walking for a moment.

"Wait, you know I shared that information?" Sophie smiled, but it was less of a friendly smile and more of a tired one.

"Augustine has been... a little more focused than usual. The League had planned a slow roll-out of Mega Evolution to only the most experienced of trainers over the next few years, but after your document, that roll-out was rushed, since practically overnight many of our theories and hypotheses were confirmed. It led to Professor Sycamore begging the League to let him publish his work, and with support from Diantha and a few other Champions, plans were significantly accelerated." She paused and bit her lip briefly.

"I wasn't supposed to know any of that, regional secrets and all, but Augustine has started to ramble during the periods he's stayed up late to continue his research. You won't believe the amount of praise he's given you for the sheer amount of information you've shared, but, as a consequence, I and Cosette both became aware of your identity. I imagine you want to keep that secret, yes?" I nodded, albeit a little slowly, as I took it in.

"I'm sorry, but there's a part of that I don't really understand," I said.

"I know that sharing what Pokémon can Mega Evolve is a big deal, but I didn't actually give that much information. Some increases in capabilities, changes in ability, and even a Type change or two, but that can't actually be that much." Sophie stopped walking to turn and look at me with a raised eyebrow. That caused me to stop as well, and my Pokémon all ended up bumping into each other like something straight out of slapstick.

"Really? I think you're underestimating how difficult it is to properly pin down what abilities a Pokémon has," she said as she turned back around and we returned to our walk.

"Abilities are a consequence of a Pokémon's biology, and generally speaking, must be trained to be properly used. It's hard to tell what counts as an ability or not, most of the time. Take the Alolan Pokémon, Komala, for example.

"Komala is asleep from the second it hatches to the day it dies. Is that considered an ability? Or is that just a quirk of its existence? The consensus is that it has the ability 'Comatose,' but there's still a hot debate that it shouldn't be considered an ability and is just a part of its normal biology. Not to mention all of the nonsense around which Pokémon could be considered to have the 'Levitate' ability, and all that.

"I still think Magnemite should have it..." she added quietly. Sophie didn't pause her lecture after that comment, and continued to speak unabated as we walked.

"Anyway, knowing the exact abilities a number of Mega Evolutions were capable of was a massive breakthrough for our research. We hypothesized several of them before you essentially handed them to us, but more and more tests are confirming that the document you gave us is correct. Because of that, we're now confident we can accurately predict what changes a Pokémon will undergo when they Mega Evolve, and that's before their Mega Stone is even discovered!" I looked at her in disbelief.

"You can't just take everything I said as complete truth, though," I said.

"There had to be some doubts at least. I wrote all of that late at night, there's bound to be mistakes mixed in!"

"And there has been," she replied.

"For example, you listed Mega Blastoise as gaining the Steel Type, when it doesn't. However, the vast majority of what you included has been accurate, and it helped push us along the right path. One of the reasons we're sponsoring so many trainers and asking them to visit is specifically to make sure the information we have is consistent.

"In fact, another one of our assistants is actually off going to reported locations of Mega Stones to collect them for us. We still have a number of them missing, but we're hoping to soon fill in the gaps as he sends them back to us." So my identity isn't as secret as I thought, and the information I provided was far more valuable than I knew. Well, at least it seems to have been for the best, no use getting worried when it's already been done.

Trying my best to not have my thoughts linger on the topic any longer, my large group of Pokémon and I finally arrived in the garden. It looked almost tropical, with large bushes and plants that extended to the roof. I glanced over to Sophie questioningly, and she smiled and nodded, so I sent my Pokémon off to explore the area while I walked over to Professor Sycamore and his other assistant.

"Perfect!" Professor Sycamore said when I approached.

"You showed up just in time. Quickly, call your Altaria back. Let's start right now." The assistant with the maroon bob, Cosette, if Sophie's words were anything to go by, suddenly looked around nervously, then pulled out a folded up chair and set it up next to a table with several measuring devices. She tapped the seat and gestured for me to go over, and I did so after throwing a nervous glance around.

"There's nothing to be worried about, Alex," Professor Sycamore said, half paying attention to me, half playing around with something that looked like a ham radio with a screen.

"We're simply recording your vitality levels, brain waves, heartbeat, presence of infinity energy, number of breaths per minute, body temperature, local humidity-""What the Professor means is that we're not recording anything you should be worried about," Cosette said, speaking in a hurried voice.

"We'll be measuring both you and Altaria, and from there we can compare you to others, and even provide tips on how to better Mega Evolve in the future! Fun, right?" Professor Sycamore and Cosette looked up to me with wide grins on their faces, whereas Sophie nearby just gave a small, amused smile and shook her head. Not willing to question the scientists, I sat on the chair and called out for Altaria.

"Altaria, we're doing this sooner than I expected!" I yelled. The branches of some nearby trees shook violently and Altaria shot out, hurtling straight towards the equipment. Cosette screamed and Professor Sycamore's eyes went wide, before a sudden yellow net of electricity shot out and wrapped around the incoming bird. His movement was halted as the net went taut and held him back, and he quickly fell to the floor.

Confused, I stood back up to see what had just used Electroweb against him, and watched as a small, orange rodent scurried over to the top of the table containing all of the equipment. It huffed and held out a tiny paw towards Professor Sycamore. He chuckled and reached into his pocket to pull out an Oran Berry, and handed it over to the Pokémon. It stuffed the berry in its mouth, causing one of its cheeks to inflate, and then continued to hold out its hand.

It coughed, and Professor Sycamore then gave it a second berry, where it then put it into the other cheek and scurried back off into the depths of the garden.

"What just happened?" I asked, confused. Walking over to Altaria, I could tell he was lightly scorched by the electricity of Electroweb, but otherwise okay. Without a source of power, the net soon broke apart and faded away, and I looked over to Professor Sycamore, a little bewildered.

"That was Dedenne," Professor Sycamore said.

"He's one of the local wild Pokémon that lives in the garden. He's a little standoff-ish, but if he thinks something will get him more food, he'll do it. I imagine that's the entire reason he stopped Altaria, too." Professor Sycamore paused.

"Altaria wasn't really going to crash, was he?" he asked nervously.

"No, he's recently taken to stopping at the last possible moment whenever he's approaching the ground," I said. I leaned in closer to Altaria to speak to him, and helped him brush off the burnt parts on his feathers.

"You need to be more careful, people get worried when they see a bird as big as you fly straight at them, alright?" Altaria stared at me unblinking, but after a few moments he lowered his head and faced the ground, a little guilty. I patted his head.

"It's alright, no one but you got hurt - which, honestly, isn't that great anyway. Now come on, we need to demonstrate your Mega Evolution." Back to being excited, Altaria hopped over to an empty table where Cosette started to place a number of electrodes on his body, and Professor Sycamore and Sophie started to do the same with mine. It was a little awkward, being crowded like that, but they only needed to place them on my head and face, and put a brace on my arm for their other measurements.

"And don't worry about Altaria going berserk," Professor Sycamore suddenly said.

"We'll be able to stop the process manually from our end if needed, and if worse comes to worst, Sophie can send out her Audino and Mega Evolve it to take down your Altaria." Altaria squawked and flapped his wings, mildly offended, and I simply chuckled at his response. I reached over to my wrist to make sure the Key Stone was still firmly attached, which was now tighter than ever after what happened in Mossdeep, and Cosette took out a slotted necklace to place Altaria's Altarianite around his neck.

After only a few moments of waiting, Professor Sycamore turned on a camera, recording the process, and started it out by describing what was going on for the video.

"First recorded attempt for trainer Alex to Mega Evolve their Altaria, their second attempt overall. We're starting at 10: 43am, on Tuesday the twenty-sixth. Ready when you are, Alex." I gave him a thumbs up, then brought up my arm with my Key Stone in it and focused on all of the good memories I had with Altaria, as well as my bond with him. Images of Altaria flashed through my mind, starting from when I first met him as Swablu, all the way up to his recent performance in the Ever Grande Conference.

I focused on how much I cared about him, how much I knew I could rely on him, and tried my best to will the form shift to start. The whole idea of a bond fueling a process like this still felt dubious to me, in a way. I knew that for some reason, it directed the energies, and I knew for some reason, a stronger bond meant a more perfected Mega Evolution, but I had trouble just wrapping my mind around the process.

As doubts began to form in my mind, instead of seeing the wonderful, cloud-like Mega Evolved form of Altaria like last time, the phenomenon failed to take hold and I eventually had to stop thinking of our connection. I willed the attempt to cease, and slumped in my chair, exhausted. Even though I had failed, I at least hadn't fallen unconscious, so that was a plus in my book. Professor Sycamore, nearby, looked overjoyed at the results he was getting.

"Wonderful! This is simply wonderful! Ah, to see the numbers as they come in! I can already see the similarities between you and other beginner Mega trainers, Alex! This is incredible!" he said, not even bothering to look up from the readings he was still collecting. Cosette was in a similar state of wonder as she read whatever was displayed on the screen, but Sophie looked a bit worried. Altaria, nearby, was completely unaffected by the whole process as his Mega Stone had barely even glowed at all.

I wasn't excited, I just felt like crap, both physically and emotionally. What happened? Why didn't this work? I thought Mega Evolution was about the bond a trainer had with their Pokémon. Do I not have the bond I thought I had with Altaria? I stared at the big blue bird across from me as he absentmindedly preened his still slightly burned fluff. He noticed me looking, and stopped what he was doing to stare at me right back, causing me to question this situation entirely.

I consider the members of my team to be the closest thing I have to family, but clearly there's something else to it. If I want to properly master Mega Evolution, I need to make sure I understand the phenomenon correctly. Focusing on my thoughts, I didn't notice Sophie making her way over.

"There isn't any need to worry, Alex. Most trainers struggle to properly Mega Evolve their Pokémon at the beginning. They might do it successfully once or twice, but never consistently, and their Pokémon sometimes even go berserk. You'll get it eventually." Despite her attempt to make me feel better, I still felt as if I had majorly messed up somehow. Altaria seemed fine, but this bothered me. I considered Mega Evolution to be the mark of a powerful trainer, but clearly I hadn't yet reached that.

Something was missing.