Chương 71: Chapter 69

When I returned to the lab after helping Lacey, I saw that one of the absolutely stuffed boxes of treats had already been finished off. That guilty look from outside of Lacey's bakery returned to Ninetales's face, and she turned away from where she was walking beside me. The first of the other visiting trainers was scheduled to arrive today, so I decided to spend the rest of the afternoon with my Pokémon in Professor Sycamore's garden.

I doubted I would be able to get to know them that well, but I hoped that seeing someone else Mega Evolve their Pokémon would help me Mega Evolve Altaria. With how many Poké Puffs were still left, most of the wild Pokémon there went ahead and took some for themselves. The same Dedenne from before was so shocked by the fact he was allowed to take an entire Poké Puff that he went up to me, hugged my leg, then ran off with a Poké Puff in tow.

Professor Sycamore also stopped by to grab one, but he only took a single one, then returned to his research. I wasn't so sure what was so addicting about comparing minor differences in infinity energy waves, but he seemed to enjoy it. It was early afternoon when the trainer finally arrived, and I was surprised to see that I actually knew them.

"Hope?"

"Alex?" We hadn't really talked before, but our journeys had crossed at a few different points in Hoenn. She was the trainer with the Cherrim in Sea Mauville, she had placed in the tournament in Lilycove with me, and she had also participated in the Ever Grande Conference.

Back then, her outfit had consisted of only a green and white dress, but right now she wasn't dressed in any specific outfit and was wearing a white graphic tee and jeans, which were probably her casual clothes rather than her specific outfit as a trainer. Sophie had already shown her around, and left Hope in the garden to wait for Sycamore before leaving herself. It was a little awkward since neither of us really knew the other, but had been around each other enough that we probably should have.

"So, uh, how far did you get in the Conference?" I ended up asking. She sighed and crossed her arms.

"Top sixty-four. I was matched up against a Fire Type specialist and none of my countermeasures worked. You?" I smiled, not really to brag, but just because I was proud of myself.

"Top sixteen. I lost to a prospective Ace Trainer, but managed to take out a few of his Pokémon. It was a really good battle."

"That's good," she said, nodding. The conversation didn't really continue from there, and we looked away from each other a bit awkwardly. Hope took this chance to walk a bit deeper in the garden, but stayed within the small clearing near the entrance that was generally used to try to Mega Evolve our Pokémon. A few Combee flew by, probably returning to their tiny hive they had set up, and Hope watched with casual interest.

She and I continued to sit around in silence for a while longer, before I decided to give the conversation a second go.

"So, is Professor Sycamore sponsoring you as well? I could have sworn Steven mentioned you had a sponsor?" I asked.

"No, I'm just here to help with his research," she replied, waving me off.

"I'm from Coumarine City, and I'm sponsored by Ramos." I pressed my lips together as I racked my mind for anything I knew about Ramos, but the most I could remember about him was that his name showed up in the games.

"Sorry, who is Ramos? If you're a Grass Type specialist, I imagine he is too." Hope nodded but didn't look my way, leaning forward to look at the dark red flowers of one bush next to a tree a few feet away.

"He is. He works as the Gym Leader of the city, actually, and has held the position for decades. I apprenticed under him as a Gym Trainer a bit before he encouraged me to head out to another region to try my luck in a Gym Challenge. I'd say it went well."

"And I'd agree. Top sixty four is really good for a first Conference." Hope glanced my way and smiled.

"It is. I'm really happy with it." She started to turn back to continue to study the flowers, but that was when Professor Sycamore finally swept into the room. Behind him, Cosette hurriedly ran in carrying a foldable table and chair, and Professor Sycamore himself was pushing a cart containing several large machines.

"Wonderful, wonderful! You've already met. Could I get your help setting everything up, Alex? Not you, Hope. I need you to conserve your energy if you're going to Mega Evolve your Venusaur." I simply nodded and hurried over to Professor Sycamore's side to help him with his equipment while Hope stayed back. I wasn't aware of how the machines attached together, or even just how to turn them on, but I was able to at least help Cosette set up the table, and lifted a few of the lighter machines onto it.

I glanced at Hope while I worked, and spoke up to continue our conversation.

"So you have a starter Pokémon, huh?" I said, referencing her Venusaur.

"That's impressive. Did Professor Sycamore give it to you?" Cosette placed the foldable chair next to the table, and Hope walked over to sit down in it. She kept looking away, a little embarrassed she wasn't allowed to help, but at least continued speaking with me rather than leaving us in silence.

"No. He's the son of Ramos's Venusaur, and partnered with me when I left for Hoenn. Cherrim is actually my starter," she said. I raised my eyebrows at that.

"That's still pretty impressive. Your Cherrim is strong, and if you're talking about the same one you used in Sea Mauville, it must have taken a lot of skill to teach it Heal Pulse." Hope simply smiled at the praise, and Professor Sycamore interrupted the conversation before she could respond.

"Alex brought some Poké Puffs for everyone, by the way. You're welcome to send your Pokémon out and keep them here in the garden, while we wait. There's no restrictions about sending Pokémon out in the gardens, and so as long as your Pokémon don't destroy the plants, they're welcome to stay." Hope perked up at that.

"Oh, good. I was hoping they'd get some time to stretch." She went ahead and tossed out an array of Pokéballs, sending out her team. Once they appeared, they looked around at the garden of plants with wonder, and when Hope pointed out where the boxes of Poké Puffs were set up, they looked at those with hunger instead.

Like she mentioned, one of her Pokémon was a large Venusaur that stomped over to the food, and it was followed by her Cherrim in its Overcast form, as well as a Vileplume, Bellossom, Tropius, and Sunflora. Her Pokémon started to help themselves to the food, and Whimsicott floated over to greet the fellow Grass Types. At the same time, Mawile and Ponyta returned to my side from the dense foliage, and walked with me to sit under a tree once the machines were set up.

"There we go. Everything's all ready. Cosette, Hope, if you will," Professor Sycamore said. Hope called her Venusaur back, and Cosette and Professor Sycamore began to attach a number of recording devices to the Pokémon, as well as a brace around Hope's arm and two electrodes on her head.

It took a bit of time to set everything up, and by the time everything was ready, all of her Pokémon had already finished eating their selection of Poké Puffs, and most of my team had returned to watch Hope's attempt to Mega Evolve Venusaur.

"Before we begin, have you Mega Evolved your Venusaur before?" Professor Sycamore asked.

"Or is this your first attempt?"

"This is my first attempt," Hope replied. Professor Sycamore's smile widened, and his eyes glimmered in excitement.

"That's perfect," he said softly.

"Most trainers get too impatient and try to Mega Evolve their Pokémon at least once before coming here. This is actually the first time I'll be getting data on someone completely new to the phenomenon." I winced, a little embarrassed to be unintentionally called out like that. Cosette set up the recording equipment, and Professor Sycamore held up a microphone to begin the recording.

"First recorded attempt for trainer Hope to Mega Evolve her Venusaur, her initial attempt overall. We're starting at 5: 13pm, on Monday the fourth. Ready when you are, Hope." Hope nodded and gave Professor Sycamore a lazy thumbs up, then pulled out a pendant from her shirt and clasped it in her hands and closed her eyes. Venusaur, with an elastic band containing the Venusaurite around its leg, opened its mouth and groaned its name, but no light appeared on the stone itself. Love this novel?

Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit. Hope furrowed her brows and continued to focus intensely, but nothing was happening. The room was completely silent as she tried desperately to get the phenomenon to begin, and tried so hard sweat actually started to appear on her brow. Eventually, she started to sway in her seat, and Professor Sycamore was forced to interrupt her and call it off.

"That's enough, Hope. We can try again another day." Hope collapsed into her chair, and Venusaur walked over to sit by her side. That movement had the consequence of forcing Cosette to scramble to unhook several of the wires before it pulled down the machines, but everything except a single monitor managed to get out just fine. Hope laid a hand onto Venusaur's head as she wiped her forehead with the other one, and breathed heavily from the exhaustion of attempting to Mega Evolve her Pokémon.

She glanced over to me, and I saw that she was having trouble keeping her eyes open.

"Was it this difficult for you?" she asked. I shook my head.

"The first time was easy, until I fell unconscious and Altaria went berserk. I haven't been able to repeat it since." Hope's eyes went wide for a moment when I mentioned falling unconscious, but she soon closed them to try to recover some of her energy. That actually caused her to fall asleep within moments, and Professor Sycamore suddenly called me over.

"Alex, I think you should see this." Confused, I approached the monitor he was in front of. Cosette, nearby, was in the process of trying to get the damaged monitor to work again, but Sycamore's was still displaying his measurements accurately. When I saw what was on the screen, I frowned.

"It's just a wobbly wave," I said. Professor Sycamore closed his eyes and nodded, as if I said something profound.

"Exactly. And you know what that means, right?"

"... No?" His eyes snapped forward, wide and full of excitement. His head turned to me and I could see that whatever this was, he was practically bouncing in place.

"What we've recorded still properly reflects Hope's attempt to Mega Evolve Venusaur, but the irregularities in the wave implies there is another source of infinity energy nearby! More specifically, that means there's another Mega Stone nearby, but at the same time, you still have that Altarianite in your backpack, correct?" he asked emphatically. I furrowed my brows in confusion.

"Correct," I replied. Professor Sycamore stepped away from the monitor, and began to pace a few feet away.

"Sophie already left earlier, so a result like this is completely unexpected. A space like an expanded backpack would protect the waves from interfering from each other due to its spatial compression, so there's no way for it to show up in our data. Neither Cosette nor I have a Mega Stone on us, and I doubt Hope is the kind of trainer to lie about what she has at her disposal. You aren't that type of trainer either, and would have told me if you had another Mega Stone.

That eliminates the nearby humans, which means we only have the Pokémon to consider. Do you understand now?" Professor Sycamore looked half crazed, but despite his words and manic eyes, he was actually pretty decently maintaining his composure. I realized that I had started to unconsciously lean back, and straightened myself out before I responded.

"So, there's another Mega Stone here?"

"Exactly!" he shouted.

"Does one of your Pokémon have some kind of special stone, perhaps one they always keep close by?" My eyes suddenly went wide, and immediately turned to face Mawile. She was currently standing next to me, having followed me over alongside Ponyta from the tree. She glanced up at me, confused, and following along with our conversation, reached into her large jaws to pull out the Hard Stone from her mouth.

"I knew it," Professor Sycamore whispered. He kneeled down to better look Mawile in the eye, and proceeded to speak with the kindest voice he could muster.

"Excuse me, Mawile. I may have noticed something special about your stone there. Do you mind if I borrow it for a moment?" Mawile was hesitant to hand it over, keeping it firmly in her grasp, but Ponyta nudged her shoulder and let out a soft whinny. Motivated by her friend, she slowly placed it into Professor Sycamore's outstretched hand and tried to hide her worried face.

The moment he had it in his hands, Professor Sycamore stood back up and placed several of the electrodes that had been on Venusaur onto the uneven stone. He hit some buttons on the machine, and the program that had tracked the infinity energy waves from earlier resumed, and a new, smaller wave formed on the screen. This one was both shorter and had a higher frequency.

It didn't look too special, but remembering the wobbly wave from before, I realized that each peak and valley of it matched the bumps on the wave from Hope's Venusaur.

"Huh," Professor Sycamore said.

"Huh?" I asked.

"A little disappointing, but not unexpected. It seems Mawile here is in possession of an incomplete Mega Stone." I blinked. Mawile blinked. Ponyta didn't react.

"An incomplete Mega Stone is a stone that received a charge of infinity energy, enough to almost fully form into a Mega Stone, but didn't gain quite enough to finish the process," Professor Sycamore explained.

"If I had to guess, this Hard Stone is actually a geode that contains a few appropriately charged crystals inside of it. It won't have any effects, but Mawile, the species, will find the presence of the rock comforting when compared to other rocks. The lack of energy contained within is probably the reason we didn't pick it up in the past, since Mawile had to stay rather close by for it to be registered at all."

My eyes went wide at that discovery, and Professor Sycamore unhooked the electrodes from the rock, then handed it back to Mawile. She carefully took it back from him, and rotated it in her hands to check for any damaged pieces. Seeing it was still the same rock as it had been when she handed it over, she quickly put it back in her jaws for storage and quickly walked away from the mad researcher with Ponyta.

As I watched them leave, I turned back to Professor Sycamore to ask him the question that had been on my mind since he said it was incomplete.

"If it's incomplete, can we complete it? Is it possible for it to become a proper Mega Stone?" Professor Sycamore shrugged and bent back down to return looking at the data from Hope's Mega Evolution attempt.

"Not really, unfortunately. Without another Mawilite, it can't be turned into a proper stone without a significant risk to its internal structure. Any attempt to do so would most likely destroy it, and unless you find some incredible source of raw infinity energy, which doesn't exist, I doubt you'll be able to complete it." Professor Sycamore sighed.

"It's a shame, though, since an actual Mawilite hasn't been found yet," he said. I stared off into the distance where Mawile had returned to the tree, and watched her watch Ponyta run around, happy. She had already taken out her stone again, and was rotating it in her hands passively, and looked extremely relaxed and comfortable with her current situation. Having another potential Mega Pokémon would be cool, but I didn't want to damage or destroy Mawile's favorite item.

She was happy on our team, and I didn't want to hurt her at all. It was nice to know, but unless we found a different way to Mega Evolve her, Altaria would stay as the only Mega-capable Pokémon on my team, for now.

"So I borrowed a computer last night, and checked the moves Alcremie can learn. You're actually at less of a disadvantage than I thought, since your Pokémon can learn more smell-based moves than I expected," I said to Lacey. In my hands I had a notebook containing my notes about Alcremie and other food-based Fairy Types, and across from me, Lacey was writing down everything I was saying.

"There are two moves that might be good for your Pokémon, Sweet Scent and Aromatic Mist. Both of those can produce a nice smell, but I'm not sure how it works for Alcremie." I looked down at Vanilla and Lemon, who were sitting on the table with us inside her bakery.

"Do either of you know them?" The two Alcremie exchanged a glance, then Vanilla held up its hand and a light pink mist puffed out of it, which smelled surprisingly like vanilla, and Lemon also held up its hands to send out a similar puff of pink mist, but this one smelled like lemon. While it seemed that while they used Aromatic Mist the same way, the final smell was different, and my eyes went wide at the realization.

"Wait, hold on," I said, quickly writing something down in my notebook, my train of thought completely interrupted, "both of your Pokémon know Aromatic Mist, but can create different smells?" I smacked my forehead.

"I should have known there would be a difference! In my travels, I noticed that Pokémon use the same moves in different ways, like my Ponyta uses Fairy Wind through swinging his mane, and Florges uses it by sending it out of her flowers. If Alcremie can create different smells... Couldn't you already make your pastries smell better to compete with Juliette?" Lacey's eyes went wide at that realization, but as fast as they had widened, they suddenly drooped down again and she shook her head.

"I could, but that still doesn't help me lure in customers. Competing and winning in the Pokémon Showcase is the best bet I have to beat those rumors about me." I slumped back down, my excitement ruined.

"Damn," I said, sighing.

"Anyway, we can still make use of that to enhance the smells of your baking. It's still a little cheaty, but should help you better stand up to the judge's scrutiny." I flipped the page of my notebook to switch to the next section of notes.

"So, onto the actual move I'm here for: Decorate. Let's see it," I said. Lacey stood up then left to enter the kitchen in the back. When she returned, she was carrying a tray of plain Poké Puffs, and hurried over to the table to place it down. After her command, Vanilla and Lemon held their hands up, created small dollops of cream that grew out of their palms, then started to place them on the top of each Poké Puff, frosting the treats.

The cream was expertly placed and created, but the end result was just a generic Poké Puff with a flavored swirl on top, one type of Poké Puff white like Vanilla, and the other one yellow like Lemon. I frowned.

"Is that all you can make?" I asked. Vanilla and Lemon exchanged a glance, then shrugged, and Lacey scratched her head.

"I think the cream can get more chunky, but we usually want it to be softer and more consistent for the sake of eating. We haven't really experimented with their Decorate move," Lacey said. I hummed as I considered alternatives.

"From some of the recordings I watched last night, as far as I can tell, Decorate lets its user energize its allies in battle. Usually it's done by slapping some energy-infused cream onto an ally, but I did notice in some battles, it wasn't always just cream. Specifically, one trainer's red Alcremie - ruby swirl, I believe - created what looked to be small gummies in addition to what it normally made." I paused to let that sink in.

"Lacey said it could be chunky, what happens when you try to only make the chunks? Is it possible that you can create candies, too?" I said to the two Fairy Types. Once more, they held their hands out and started to use Decorate to create the cream like they did before. This time, the cream looked a bit lopsided and had obvious chunks in it, but Vanilla's chunks were rounded, and Lemon's looked like half circles. Lacey's eyes went wide and I smiled.

"So, for our first bit of, well, 'homework,' I think the two of you should see if you can make candy to go alongside your frosting," I told Vanilla and Lemon.

"Once you have that, figure out a way to incorporate them into your decorations. I can't help you with the actual decorating process, though. I work with battling Pokémon and moves, rather than aesthetics." Lacey stood up to pet her Pokémon on their head, and both Alcremie leaned into her hand. After she wiped her hands off on her apron, her smile widened as she looked to me.

"You've been a big help so far, Alex. With this, I know we can make it through the themed round! Thank you, any time you need any, please, help yourself to-""I hate to interrupt being told I get free pastries forever, but this isn't enough." Lacey's smile disappeared, and she blinked.

"I'm sorry?" I took a deep breath to prepare myself for what I was about to drop on her, even though she really should have seen it coming.

"You wanted my help to win the competition, not just get past the themed round. What do you have prepared for your actual performance?" Lacey grimaced and looked away, while Vanilla and Lemon stopped their practice to hop in place, excited. I waited for Lacey to speak again and explain what she had planned, but she refused to say anything or even make eye contact with me. I sighed.

"If you don't want to tell me, you can show me instea-""No! No, that's alright, I'll tell you!" Lacy said, jumping up and holding her hands out, eyes wide with fear. My frown deepened.

"You understand you'll be performing for an audience, right? If you're embarrassed about performing-""I'm not," she said, interrupting me again.

"It's just... a lot. Ugh. I'll show you. Come on." She stood up and started to walk to the kitchen, and motioned me to follow. I did so, and was led through a large space with a number of Acremie either sitting around or happily creating and decorating another batch of Poké Puffs. Lacey moved over to the back door and walked through, and we emerged on the other side into a large courtyard in the center of the block. This courtyard was devoid of people, probably since it was so lackluster.

Unlike the well maintained, beautiful facades that lined the main road, this section was relatively plain. It was surrounded by the other buildings of the block, which meant very little natural light made its way in, and there were no lamps or lightbulbs back here to help either. A few windows pointed into this place, but all were closed or dark, meaning no one would be paying attention to us.

Now in a private place, Lacey whistled to beckon Vanilla and Lemon closer, and she started their performance in the dim back courtyard behind her building. It wasn't great. It mostly consisted of Lacey spinning around in place while Vanilla and Lemon walked around her, creating puffs of pink mist, or throwing some cream from Decorate into the air, catching it before it hit the floor.

If there was any light I imagined their moves might have sparkled, but most of them just looked like mundane creations that lingered in the air. Vanilla and Lemon's control of their frosting creation was good, but nothing to write home about. The final flourish of her performance was when the pair of Alcremie jumped onto and balanced on her outstretched hands, which was impressive, but nothing else held up.

Without wanting to say anything cruel, and deciding to rely on the experts, I reached to my side to send out Florges and Ninetales. Ninetales, seeing this dim alley, used Dazzling Gleam to create a small glow around her to light it up, and Lacey gasped.

"That's beautiful. Can you teach us that move?" I glanced over to Ninetales, who was glowing with pastel colors, and nodded.

"Sure, actually. The reason I sent out Florges and Ninetales is that they're interested in Contests, and would be more than interested in working with you to further develop your Pokémon Showcase performance. Alcremie can learn the move, and while it wouldn't be good enough to use in battle, the visuals of it would be down and ready for the Showcase in no time. Florges, Ninetales, is this okay with you?"

The two of them looked extremely excited to have a chance to actually influence a performance, and Ninetales hurried over to start talking with Lemon, and Florges floated around to look them over and think of ways she could actually help. Lacey squirmed under her gaze, but looked grateful for their upcoming assistance. I nodded in satisfaction upon seeing everyone's reactions. With Ninetales and Florges's help, Lacey might actually have a chance to win the Showcase.