The Eon Academy [S.S. Wishmaker Side-Story]

[[Desolate Divine]]

Season 3 Episode 1: Targets

Spoiler:

The morning sun kept the small island in the south of Hoenn rather warm, as Jon sat on the camp chair that he kept on the island, hidden under a tarp in some of the wooded areas. During his first six months with Latios, training here, he knew that packing to spend each weekend on the island and carrying it across would be tedious, and had the idea of bringing the essentials to spend the weekend there in a few trips, leaving them, and only bringing perishable supplies. Whilst he took everything back off the island when he was confident enough in Latios’ training to have him out of his Pokeball around people, he quickly brought enough supplies back after Rayquaza was captured, this time in many trips over a few days, with Latios carrying him and whatever supplies, knowing that renting a boat would leave a paper trail.

Whilst Jon hadn’t been able to return to Southern Island between the Deoxys incident and his trial with Mark Hill, knowing the amount of attention that was on him, that meant that he couldn’t actually remove the supplies from the island, so after Hill’s disgrace and subsequent dismissal, Jon wasn’t sure whether the tent, bedding and furniture he left, stored out of the way, would be in reasonable condition when he returned to Southern Island, this time with Steven and Charlotte in tow. After nine months, and surviving the winter, the tent and foldable chair were both in reasonable condition, in their own bags in addition to being tightly wrapped up in the tarp. The pillow and sleeping bag however were mould infested, and Jon made a note to bring them back to Mossdeep to dispose of them.

On the three flying Pokemon, Latios, Flygon and Skarmory returning for the first time to Southern Island, since the summer before, enough supplies for Charlotte to be coming on the regular were also carried. Another tent, bedding, and another chair. On that first week, they had arrived in mid afternoon, and between Rayquaza, as well as Jon and Steven’s teams, they felt safe enough with Latios flying back, unencumbered without carrying Jon and able to fly at high speeds, to return the mouldy bedding and get replacements. That afternoon, Rayquaza was let out of his Pokeball for the first time, and Jon spent an hour apologizing to the majestic Dragon for it being in its Pokeball for the good part of a year, trying to explain the Pokemon. Charlotte wasn’t sure what shocked her more. The fact that Jon had Rayquaza in his possession the entire time she knew him, or the fact that Jon seemed to be conversing with it as easily as he would her or Steven. Even Steven was taken aback at the sight of the large Dragon, having never seen it in person before.

Allowing Rayquaza time to get accustomed to being out of the Pokeball, though keeping it under strict orders to not stray too far from the island, lest he be spotted, Jon and Steven spent the next hour, telling Charlotte the story of Rayquaza, and the circumstances behind his capture. Granted, piecing together the fact Jon had Rayquaza, and Lance’s testimony against Hill, she had put most of the story together. However the real shock to her was the fact that the Diamond Ladies were still alive, and Cassandra Silvers helped Jon capture this extremely powerful and dangerous Legendary Pokemon, and was responsible for his ability to communicate with it.

Once everyone was on the same page, and Rayquaza was introduced properly to both Charlotte and Steven, they prepared to let Deoxys out of the Pokeball for the first time. Jon withdrew Rayquaza, not wanting Deoxys to feel threatened by the Pokemon and attack out of instinct. Steven held the Pokeball containing Deoxys, ready to return it should it attack, and Charlotte tried to prepare herself for what was to come. Whilst the Psychic type was legally registered to the Eon Academy, for all intents and purposes, she was it’s trainer now. For better or worse.

Steven let the Pokemon out of its Pokeball, and none were overly surprised when the Pokemon that emerged wasn’t the one they saw attempting to destroy Mossdeep Island, however the meteorite that Charlotte had recovered on the beach, the first night she was in Mossdeep the summer before. Whilst they weren’t completely certain, Latios had shown Jon his own memory of the point of impact where he hit Deoxys at top speed, capturing it in the Pokeball, and they figured the force of the hit itself may have been enough to rip out the central organ.

On that first afternoon, Charlotte sat by the meteorite-organ, resting her palm on it, and trying to keep her thoughts from spiralling into fear and doubt over the Pokemon, knowing that whilst Latios believed it didn’t understand the thoughts of humans and other Pokemon telepathically, it may be able to understand emotions, and didn’t want to risk alarming it with her own fear. Their goal was for it to know her, and feel safe, given what it had gone through at the Space Centre.

Whilst this happened, Jon and Steven attempted to, whilst focusing on the object itself to make sure they didn’t miss any potential danger, keep Charlotte calm, with light-hearted conversation, whilst also keeping their own thoughts focused on trying to not think anything that Deoxys could perceive to be a threat, particularly Jon, who had to balance being ready to let Rayquaza out should anything happen, whilst not letting the danger flood his thoughts.

Whilst it seemed nothing had happened that afternoon, when Latios returned, Jon’s new bedding in tow, he confirmed that when he saw Deoxys emotions, as little as Latios actually understood them, were similar to what he saw when the meteorite was placed on the table, the day they found it, and not as they were the night of the attack. Whilst Latios didn’t know what the auras representing Deoxys emotions correlated to, like he normally would, he could guess that it was feeling calm. The trio then returned Deoxys to it’s Pokeball, before sleeping for the evening, Steven sharing a tent with Jon, and Charlotte in her own, which would now stay on the island with the other supplies.

The next morning, they resumed what they were doing, this time with Latios, though invisible, watching Deoxys like a hawk for any sign of change. Whilst Latios, or anyone he shared his vision with for that matter, couldn’t explain the colours they saw that made up Deoxys aura, they all agreed that the colours were getting richer, as if the emotion it felt at that time were growing stronger. They only hoped it was a sense of calm, and not something else.

It was noon that day when things started to change. Charlotte was the first to notice it, being the closest, and tried her best to remain calm. As she held her hand over the crystalline organ, she noticed thin, near invisible fibres begin to flow from it, finding their places on the organ, very slowly creating a body. Whilst every instinct she had was to withdraw her hand, she didn’t want the Legendary Pokemon to feel that she had any ill will towards it, even though it took all of her sheer willpower to not panic. She coughed slightly, getting Jon and Steven’s attention, before nodding towards her hand, as they realized, and focused a little more on it.

Slowly, the fibres continued to extend from the orb, acting as the basis for Deoxys body, which grew outwards from its core. Whilst she had seen Deoxys regenerate during the battle in a split second, that was a single limb, compared to the entire body it now had to regenerate. It was nearly an hour before the fibres stopped, by which point, the shape of Deoxys lying on the ground, Charlotte’s hand over its chest, had been present for five or so minutes, the Pokemon’s cold eyes staring at her. When the process seemed to end, Charlotte slowly removed her hand, standing to her feet, and stepping back, as the Pokemon levitated itself upright, watching them all cautiously. Jon nearly called Rayquaza out when it’s form shifted, however Charlotte called out for him to wait, watching as it took on its bulkier, defense oriented form that they had seen during the battle at Mossdeep.

“If it wanted to attack us, it would change into its attack form, and if it wanted to run, it’s speed form is nearly as quick as Regieleki…” Charlotte had said, forcing herself to be calm. “This is it’s defensive form. Which means it probably wants to stay, and doesn’t want to fight us, but doesn’t want to get hurt either…”

Seeing the logic in what she was saying, Jon didn’t send out Rayquaza, however watched as Deoxys’ gaze turned to where Latios floated, invisible to all who relied only on sight to know he was there. Latios quickly turned visible, explaining to Jon that Deoxys had telepathically detected him, and he figured it would be less threatening if Deoxys could see the opponent who had ripped it from its body the year earlier.

The afternoon was seemingly uneventful. When it became clear that Deoxys wasn’t going to move, the trio began talking, at first quietly, not wanting to alarm Deoxys, but eventually letting the conversations happen naturally. At first Deoxys watched them intently, especially Charlotte and Latios, however it began letting its gaze wander, taking in the sight around it, as empty as it was. At the end of the day, Charlotte returned Deoxys to it’s Pokeball. It flinched at the sound of the Pokeball operating, however seemed to relax slightly again to it’s slightly less uptight self, when it realized it was returning to the Pokeball, and they meant it no harm.

The next morning, they had let Deoxys out, and gradually it shifted its form into its standard form, though still not letting any of them out of it’s sight. That was the only progress made that day, as Deoxys still didn’t move, and the three trainers didn’t let it out of their sight.

The next weekend, Steven hadn’t joined them, not wanting to draw attention to Southern Island, and risk a follower spotting Jon with Rayquaza, or worse, spooking Deoxys resulting in it panicking and becoming violent. Jon and Charlotte went alone, leaving Dylan at the Academy again to iron out details of the camp that was due to start there in just over two weeks. That weekend saw slow but significant progress. Most notably, Charlotte offering Deoxys food, though unsure what it would do with it, given its lack of a mouth, and Deoxys accepting it, telekinetically levitating it towards itself, after Charlotte demonstrated with another biscuit, eating it. Surprisingly, as Deoxys held it, similar fibres to the ones that made up its body, emerged from its palm, absorbing the biscuit she offered directly into its body. Jon made the comment that once Deoxys was safe, she would have researchers lining up to study the Pokemon.

The other point of progress that weekend, was Deoxys seemingly becoming significantly less suspicious of Latios, the Eon Pokemon telepathically trying to bond with it, though unable to understand specific thoughts, or even the emotions that it felt.

The weekend after was the one that worried Jon and Charlotte the most. When they arrived on the Friday evening, they let Latios out of his Pokeball, however not Deoxys, letting the Eon Pokemon rest. Additionally, during the day Saturday, Deoxys was let out of its Pokeball, but not Latios, with Jon confident enough Deoxys wouldn’t attack, allowing for Latios to rest a little more. That evening however, Latios was let out of his Pokeball, and Deoxys was allowed to remain out, in addition to one of Charlotte’s Pokemon, which Jon had only realized during the day would be beneficial to their cause.

It had been between the trial, and her moving to the Eon Academy when Jon had told Charlotte he had something planned for all the interns, but for her to be included, she needed to catch a Pokemon from a list that he had just sent her. He wouldn’t say why, as he wasn’t sure his plan would work, but to trust him. Before leaving Sinnoh, she had made her way to an abandoned mansion in Eterna Forest, known for being the home of many Ghost Type Pokemon, and captured herself a Haunter.

In addition to Latios who remained awake to keep an eye on Deoxys, and prevent it from running away, Haunter would be present too, ordered to use Mean Look if Deoxys attempted to flee.

Deoxys was slightly alarmed by the new Pokemon, however within an hour or so, returned to its normal, silent and near unmoving self, only watching and never acting. Jon however barely slept that evening, knowing that Deoxys, though under watch of Latios and Haunter, was just outside.

Charlotte however managed to sleep, and was pleasantly surprised the next morning when she woke up, realizing that the dreams she had that night were similar to the strange ones she had the summer before. This time however, instead of it being focused on pain, the emotions she thought she felt were a sense of caution, mixed with curiosity.

Latios confirmed that Deoxys remained still for most of the night, however did wander around the campsite a little, though not far enough to warrant any concern. The next day was relatively uneventful, which Jon was glad for, having barely slept.

Which left them to this weekend. Jon sat in his chair, watching Deoxys, who stood a few meters from the tents, watching intently, something that still unnerved Jon. They had allowed Deoxys to remain out of the Pokeball the night before, with only Latios and Gengar, which had only evolved a few days earlier, supervising it. Jon had awoken earlier, covering for Latios after being filled in. Again, Deoxys wandered around, however did nothing of concern. Latios even mentioned that Deoxys seemed to actually respond well to Latios’ attempts to communicate, in his limited understanding.

Jon’s attention was pulled, as was Deoxys', by the unmistakable sound of a tent being unzipped as Charlotte emerged, yawning lightly.

“Morning,” Jon called out, before gesturing to the camp stove in front of him. “Coffee?”

“I’m good,” Charlotte responded, glancing over at Deoxys, whose cold stare followed them. She lowered her voice a little, although knew there was little point. “Any news?”

“Nothing major. Same as last week,” Jon explained as he sipped his own cup of coffee. “Though Latios thinks Deoxys might be responding well to his attempts to communicate…”

Going to the food bag they had brought, and pulling out a breakfast bar, Charlotte spoke.

“So where now?” she asked, as she took a seat in her camp chair, and began fiddling with the wrapping of her breakfast bar.

“Good question. I’ve been thinking…” Jon explained, as he gently placed his cup of coffee on the ground next to his chair. “I think our best bet is to try and aim to get Deoxys trained to be battled…”

Charlotte felt a slight sense of concern, and out of the corner of her eye, noticed Deoxys looking over at her. She quickly corrected herself, knowing that an impulsive thought may trigger the Pokemon.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Charlotte asked calmly, intentionally trying to focus on Jon. “Putting Deoxys in that situation could overwhelm it and cause it to lash out…”

“That’s definitely a risk…” Jon explained before taking a moment to consider his thoughts. “But I think that if we get to the point where Deoxys is calm in a serious battle between us here, and is able to understand that a battle isn’t a threat, I think that understanding could be a serious advantage in making sure Deoxys is safe. Think about it. How much pressure is a Pokemon in a competitive battle under?”

“A lot…”

“Exactly,” Jon explained. “They have to make split second, sound decisions, and follow instructions, whilst potentially being hit by an attack that could knock them senseless. Heck, even kill them if the opponent is being reckless and taking it too far. If we can get Deoxys to that level of handling pressure and not being overwhelmed and lashing out, then I think that we can safely say that being around a large group of people and Pokemon going about their business will not overwhelm it…”

Charlotte remained unconvinced, so Jon continued.

“I’m not saying you go and try and order it to fight Rayquaza. We take baby steps, like we have been…”

“What sort of steps?” Charlotte asked.

“Today, we will let some of our Pokemon out of their Pokeballs, and let them wander the island, under instruction not to get too close, unless Latios thinks that it is safe,” Jon explained. “Start with Pokemon it didn’t battle against last summer, and after a while, if nothing goes wrong, maybe even send out one of the Pokemon it fought against. We want it to not be worried by seeing a new and unfamiliar Pokemon.”

Charlotte nodded, following his reasoning so far.

“Tomorrow, let’s have an extremely tame and sensible battle,” Jon explained. “Your Gengar against my Blaziken. Blaziken will pull his punches. We want it to see that Pokemon battling each other isn’t a situation it needs to be scared of. And we need to make sure that we are enjoying it, and our Pokemon are as well. Keep it fun.”

“Okay, but from there, how do we get it to want to be involved itself?” Charlotte asked. “It has barely moved when it can see us…”


“Latios will double down his attempts to communicate with it,” Jon explained. “And once he makes some progress, he will very gently see if Deoxys wants to battle…”

“And if it doesn’t?”

“If we know it doesn’t that means we have ideally broken some communication barrier between it and Latios. Honestly, I am hoping that Deoxys is like an infant, and will learn to understand our language…” Jon explained, well aware of the example with Amelia speaking more and more with each week that passed. “Because once it does, I may even be able to communicate with it, without Latios. And in that case, we will hopefully not be guessing as much…”

Charlotte thought the plan involved risk, however understood attempting to tame and rehabilitate a Pokemon that suffered the way Deoxys did, was full of risk.

“Let’s do it,” Charlotte said, before glancing back at the unnerving Pokemon who seemed intent on following her with its gaze. “But let’s give Deoxys some space…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Justin rolled his eyes at Chris and Abbee, who sat that close to one another, that he was convinced their connected arms would fuse, as they talked quietly, laughing about something inaudible to Justin. The ferry usually takes two hours, and for the last hour and fifty-five minutes, this is what he had been listening to. He had attempted fruitlessly to try and make conversation, however it seemed like whatever topic he brought up, they would then start on some tangent related to it that only the pair of them understood, eventually leaving him by himself. Normally he would have messaged his own girlfriend, however being in the sea between Lilycove and Mossdeep, there was no phone signal. Eventually he had enough.

“Do you want me to give you two some space?” Justin asked slightly irritably, though Chris and Abbee knew he was only kidding around.

“Sorry Justin,” Abbee said with a slight grin.

“Don’t be sorry, he was like this with Candice last summer…” Chris retorted, as Justin rolled his eyes.

“That’s a load of s**t and you know it…” Justin retorted. “We weren’t even technically together then…”

“No, but you spent all week making googly-eyes at her, and left me to do that event alone…” Chris replied.

“You mean the event that I gave up ten hours or so to help you with?” Abbee said. “And googly-eyes? Who says googly-eyes?”

“Victini,” Chris said, noticing Abbee’s puzzled look. “Don’t ask…”

“Point remains, we’ll be off this ship in ten minutes ideally, and in a car on the way to the Academy in fifteen,” Justin continued. “And on behalf of everyone else who has to be around you two, please tone it down…”

“We will…” Abbee said, though a grin crossed her face that concerned Justin. He remained silent, waiting to hear the reason for it. “But you said we have fifteen minutes…”

“F**king hell…” Justin muttered as Chris began laughing. To her credit, they did tone it down, Abbee only making the joke to mess with Justin.

“So who’s picking us up?” Justin asked, not being the one to organize the lift. He had been the last to arrange flights to Hoenn, and not wanting to spend the two hour trip on the ferry alone, and knowing Abbee and Chris would fly to Hoenn and go to the Academy together, he had found out when they were planning on arriving, and joined in.

“No clue,” Chris answered. “At a guess, Jon, Dylan, Alyssa, or maybe even Steven…”

“So basically, all of the possible people involved at the Academy who can drive…” Justin remarked dryly.

“I asked Jon if someone could pick us up. He told me he’d make it happen, but didn’t say anything more,” Abbee explained. “So I guess we will see…”

They emerged from the ferry and made their way to the small car park, however didn’t see either Jon or Alyssa’s car.

“Over here!”

They looked over to where the familiar voice came from, and saw Dylan stepping out of a dual-cab ute, similar in size to his car that was destroyed the year before, albeit much shinier and newer.

“Hey!” Abbee called out, as the group approached, giving her friend a hug.

“So you finally were able to replace the car?” Chris asked, as he shook Dylan’s hand, with Justin following close behind him, interjecting before he could answer.

“Charlotte didn’t come to meet us?” Justin asked.

“I’ll explain in the car,” Dylan answered. “I haven’t had breakfast yet, and I’m starving…”

He quickly unlocked the shiny hard lid that covered the tub, as the three trainers stowed their baggage there, before Justin climbed into the front seat, and Chris and Abbee climbed into the back.

“This seems nearly brand new?” Chris asked, as Dylan started the car.

“It is. After the military had to retract their acquisition order, and Hill was disgraced, his party kicked him out within three days,” Dylan explained. “Then to try and do some damage control, they reimbursed everyone who had property on the island damaged, as well as compensated for things like additional damages due to the time it took, and loss of income.”

Even outside of Hoenn, Hill’s dismissal made the evening news for weeks. Granted, due to the involvement of a high profile trainer such as Jon Drake, references to the events that happened in the Whirl Islands, and a shock, scathing testimony from the disgraced Indigo Champion Lance, the story was huge. And by extension, when the government at the time was voted out in the election only a matter of weeks ago, that also made the news.

“Because the Eon Academy missed out on heaps of income this year, and survived because Jon and I found other work, Jon wound up with a fair bit more given to him than he expected. I had already saved a few thousand myself during the year, and they reimbursed me for the value of my car, so Jon found room in the budget to give me a slight bonus to help buy something brand new,” Dylan explained. “Jon was actually shocked at how much they gave him as reimbursement for the damage and all the other trouble…”

“A lot?” Abbee asked.

“Put it this way. Between the amount he got paid, and being in the good graces of a bunch of locals who weren’t sure they would ever be reimbursed, and wanted to return the favour, enough that in the four weeks since, with the help of a few tradespeople and business owners on the island, he managed to get another two lodges built, to house the hundred people who are coming to the Eon Academy this summer…”

When Dylan had mentioned to Abbee in a message a week earlier that they had closed registrations at a hundred people, she was shocked. However, hearing that two entire lodges were built in the space of four weeks shocked her even more.

“Goddamn, it helps to be famous…” Chris muttered.

“Considering the slander I was reading about him last year on the Anniversary of his High Seas win, I’m a little surprised,” Justin added.

“So where’s Charlotte?” Abbee asked, remembering that Dylan told them he would explain in the car.

“Her and Jon left Mossdeep on Friday to go train Deoxys. They’ll be back this afternoon,” Dylan answered. The passengers went slightly quiet at the mention of the Legendary Pokemon.

“How are things with Deoxys going?” Justin asked Dylan.

“They’re making progress, it’s just slow,” Dylan answered. “I’ll let them explain it, since I haven’t been there, but I think it’s safe to say you won’t see Deoxys this summer, shy of a miracle…”

“Funnily enough, I think I’m okay with that,” Abbee remarked. “Don’t get me wrong, what they did to it was messed up. But I’m still terrified of it…”

Wanting to change the subject, Dylan made eye contact with Chris in his rear-view mirror.

“How’s Lugia going?” Dylan asked. “Has he grown much?”

“About another foot,” Chris answered. “At a guess though, he still has another ten feet to grow, and another two hundred and fifty pounds…”

“He’s going to eat you out of house and home…” Dylan laughed.

“Yeah. I wonder how Jon goes feeding-” Chris began, before realizing Justin wasn’t aware of Rayquaza. “Latios…”

Dylan refrained from rolling his eyes, not wanting to give away to Justin that Chris had slipped up.

“Latios’ food intake isn’t too difficult. Not much more than your Dragonite I’d guess. But his thirst for beer…” Dylan answered. “I’ve never seen such a thing in a Pokemon.”

“Well, I think Lugia will flip when he sees Latios again,” Chris answered, thankful that Dylan had spared him from the potential slip-up. Justin, just thankful that Chris and Abbee had taken the hint, was completely oblivious.

On the way back, Dylan stopped through a drive-through fast-food restaurant, however when rounding the corner, used the car's controls to call Alyssa.

“It’s an unofficial rule of living in that household,” Dylan explained as the phone dialled. “If you’re going through the drive-through on your way home, you call ahead and see if anyone is hungry…”

Before anyone could respond, Alyssa’s voice came through the car’s speakers.

”Dylan, what’s up?” Alyssa asked, and before Dylan could answer, Abbee called out.

“Hi Alyssa!” Abbee said loudly, “Chris and Justin are here too!”

Alyssa laughed at the audience to the hands-free call, before saying hello to the passengers, as Dylan spoke.

“I’m starving, and am getting something that will clog my arteries,” Dylan explained. “You want something?”

There was a laugh from Alyssa on the other end of the line, before she spoke.

”Screw it, I’ve been good all week…” Alyssa answered, earning her a laugh from the rest of the car. ”Get me the usual. I’ve made Lili her lunch, but can’t be bothered making my own…”

“I’m not judging,” Dylan replied. “Want me to smuggle it in so she doesn’t see?”

”She’ll be having a nap before you get here, so don’t worry,” Alyssa answered. ”Thanks!”

************************************************** ************************************************** *********

The four interns found themselves arriving at the familiar sign of a Latios silhouette that marked the entrance gate to the Eon Academy, for all but Dylan, the first time in nine months. When they had left nine months earlier, smashed windows and torn up earth were visible from the front gate, as well as a large Latios shaped hole in one of the fences. Now in the distance, more buildings than what was there the year before were visible. In addition to the two lodges on the left hand side of main hall, there were two past it, nearer to the fenced off cliff edge of the property.

“It’s good to be back…” Abbee said, not wanting to say that she spent the good part of the last year worrying she wouldn’t be.

“Agreed,” Chris said, as Dylan drove through the gate that Justin held open, before stopping to let him get back in the car, and driving towards Jon and Alyssa’s house.

“Are you sure we won’t be too noisy having lunch in the house?” Abbee asked. “Amelia’s napping…”

“That child will sleep through a Whismur Uproar,” Dylan said. “Well, not quite that, but she takes after her dad in how heavy of a sleeper she is. Unless we start yelling or something, she won’t wake up…”

Dylan parked the car, getting the food he had just bought, and made his way to the front door of the house, letting himself and the three other interns in. They made their way quietly towards the kitchen, where Alyssa sat at the dining table, a laptop in front of her, where she was proofreading an article she was getting ready to submit. When she saw the three newcomers, she beamed.

“It’s great to see you all!” she said happily, hugging each of them, surprising them slightly, since it had only been a few weeks since she had seen them. “It’s felt too empty with just Dylan and Charlotte here.”

“To think I bought you lunch…” Dylan muttered sarcastically.

“You know what I mean,” Alyssa said rolling her eyes. “You live here, so it’s a standard day when you’re around. With Charlotte being here, the last few weeks have felt like there should be a few dozen teenagers on the property, and you guys wrangling them…”

“More than a few dozen this year,” Justin remarked. “Not sure how the eight of us are going to wrangle all of them…”

“I think Jon’s planning on taking last years system and putting it on a larger scale,” Dylan explained. “There’ll be five teams. But each team should have one or two older students from last year who will be directly under us, helping with classes and such. Not interns themselves, but more just taking a little extra responsibility. He convinced a few of them that it would help them grow as battlers to learn to teach others.”

“You say that as if you don’t believe that’s how it works?” Abbee noted.

“I know it works. We got better having to try and help the others improve,” Dylan explained. “I think that after this year, we may not be able to pull it off. We went from five students in the first year, to forty including us, and how one hundred. I think new interns might be needed before we run our next summer program. Though given what’s gone on here, I don’t know that many people are lining up to be responsible for a summer program where a year or two before, they had to evacuate from a p**sed off Legendary Pokemon. It’s one thing showing up here to learn, but being the person to have to look after everyone is a different matter…”

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get there,” Alyssa answered. “This place has had enough bad luck to last a few lifetimes, so hopefully we can have a summer or two with no disasters…”

“Hopefully…”

The group ate their lunch, before the interns returned to Dylan’s car to gather their belongings, and get settled into their rooms in the small guest lodge. Whilst the year before, they had shared rooms in the same lodges as the other students, in order for them to be nearby if needed by any of them, outside of the Deoxys incident, it made no difference to the program that they were in there. Circumstances that made it beneficial to stay in the shared rooms were practically non-existent, and Dylan and Charlotte had both been living in the guest lodge for nearly a month. Justin had a mixture of amusement and embarrassment when he let himself into his old room, noticing the slightly different coloured paint on the door from when he helped Jon repair it after Dylan knocked it in during their first year.

************************************************** ************************************************** *********

It was later that afternoon when Charlotte and Jon returned to Mossdeep, having left Southern Island in the early hours of the morning. Abbee, who had been catching up on sleep lost during the flight, only realized when she heard noises coming from the room next to hers, being the one on the far left of the building. Charlotte’s room. She got out of bed, and made her way into the hallway, before knocking on the door to the room next to hers.

“Yeah?” Charlotte called out, thinking it was probably Dylan asking for his Flygon back.

“You haven’t seen me in a month, while you’re off training a dangerous Legendary Pokemon, and the best you have for me is yeah?” Abbee called out, knowing she would get a reaction from her friend.

Abbee heard Charlotte making her way towards the door, before it opened, and she was greeted by her friend.

“I thought you guys would be coming later tonight?”

“We got here a bit before lunch,” Abbee answered. “I’ve just been recovering from the flight, and Dylan’s been getting some last minute stuff organized before everyone shows up. Haven’t got a clue where Chris and Justin are though…”

“They might be taking a look at the new lodges,” Charlotte explained. “But Jon mentioned wanting to talk to all five of us as soon as we were all here, so he will probably round us up soon…”

Before Abbee could reply, she heard the sound of the front door to the lodge on the floor below opening, and the voices of Chris and Jon, followed by Justin and Dylan.

“Speak of the devil and he shall appear,” Abbee mused, earning a grin from Charlotte. “Let’s see what he wants…”

Jon stood at the end of the table in the dining room, holding a large gift bag, which Chris looked at curiously from his seat on one side of the table. Dylan sat at the other end, with a tablet in front of him, trying to not waste any time that he could be finalizing last second bits and pieces of the camp due to start the next day, and Justin opposite Chris, on his phone. As Jon saw Abbee descend the stairs, he nodded at her, earning a grin from her. She sat beside Chris, as Charlotte took the last free seat next to Justin.

“I’m glad the three of you are here early, because you will probably want some practise time before the others arrive tomorrow,” Jon explained, before digging into the gift bag, and withdrawing five small gift boxes of different colours, each with a name. Dylan looked up, slightly surprised, as it was rare that Jon had something planned for the Academy that he wasn’t aware of. As Jon passed a few to Chris and Justin, they retained theirs, before passing the others onto the next person. A few moments later all trainers had one in front of them, and at Jon’s nod, they opened them. In Abbee’s, was a locket on a thin gold chain. Dylan’s gift-box held a simple, yet sophisticated wrist watch. Inside Chris’, a stainless steel wristband, with a stone embedded in it. Charlotte’s contained a bracelet, with a singular charm dangling from it, and Justin’s a pendant on a leather cord.

“Thank you,” Abbee said, putting the locket around her neck. “But what’s the occasion?”

“This is for protection…” Jon answered.

“I didn’t pick you to be the superstitious type,” Chris laughed, as Justin’s eyes narrowed on his gift, and all of the others. He noticed something in common with them. The same stone, embedded in each of them.

“He’s not being superstitious,” Justin answered. “These are all Key Stones…”

“Wait what?” Charlotte asked, looking closer at the charm on the bracelet that rested around her wrist. Abbee opened the locket, as Chris looked closer at his wristband, and Dylan noticed the small stone that acted as the anchor point for the two hands on his watch.

“Empty the boxes,” Jon said simply. Abbee was the first to pull out the felt cushion that her gift sat on, and underneath was a stone the size of a golf ball, with a glossy finish, above a swirl of red and yellow inside. As the others followed, they realized they all contained identical stones, albeit different colours. Chris’ was blue and black, Charlotte’s was purple and crimson, Justin’s was blue and red, and Dylan’s was gold and pale blue.

“I appreciate this, really,” Chris began. “But you know these aren’t allowed in tournaments?”

“I know that, and I plan on you not using them in tournaments, or ideally, anyone ever knowing you have them,” Jon explained.

Jon put the bag onto the floor, and sat at the seat at the end of the table where he stood.

“Between the fact that in the eyes of the public, you five are now linked to me, and four of you now have extremely rare, Legendary Pokemon, that places targets on your back…” Jon explained. “What happened at the Whirl Islands is proof of that…”

Justin and Abbee nodded in agreement. At the time, they were the only ones aside from Jon with Legendary Pokemon, and because the poachers were after Regieleki and Victini specifically, they were forced to keep the two extremely powerful Pokemon in their Pokeballs.

“These Mega Stones will allow Gengar, Lucario, Ampharos, Charizard and Metagross all to Mega Evolve at will,” Jon explained. “And at a guess, Gengar, Lucario, Ampharos and Charizard will all be stronger than Latios, Victini, Regieleki and Deoxys when they’re Mega Evolved. And Metagross will be even stronger than a fully grown Lugia…”

“Goddamn,” Chris muttered, glancing at Dylan, slightly shocked that the quieter trainer will wind up with the strongest Pokemon at the Academy.

“The reason I say I want this kept a secret for as long as possible, is that I want this saved as a last resort,” Jon explained. “The biggest mistake an enemy can make is underestimating you, and by keeping this a secret, they are near guaranteed to…”

Charlotte glanced over at Jon, before noticing what she was looking for. A ring on his right hand that she hadn’t noticed before.

“You have one too?” Charlotte asked, nodding towards Jon’s right hand. He nodded, holding his hand up so the ring was visible.

“Mega Stones for Pokemon are incredibly rare and hard to find,” Jon explained. “Right now, I only have one for Blaziken. However, Scizor, Absol and Latios can all Mega Evolve, so I will try and track them down on the downlow. That way I have options available if the s**t hits the fan.”

“Wait, which Pokemon can Mega Evolve?” Chris asked. “And where do you find Mega Stones?”

“I’ll send a list of all known Mega Evolutions to the four of you,” Jon answered. “But in your case, Charizard has two Potential Mega Evolutions, and Salamence and Garchomp both have one. Justin, with the right stones, you could also Mega Evolve Alakazam and Houndoom, and Dylan, you could Mega Evolve Sceptile as well.”

Jon looked over at Abbee.

“The only Pokemon you have that I am aware of is Ampharos, but a few of the Pokemon you caught last year, once they’re fully evolved, should be able to as well. Charlotte, you’ve only got Gengar, but I doubt that will be too much of a hurdle for you,” Jon explained, before answering Chris’ second question. “Mega Stones are found naturally largely in Kalos, but also in Hoenn. They’re believed to be fragments of a meteor that broke up in the atmosphere and landed around Kalos and Hoenn centuries ago, before being affected by the Pokemon in those habitats and resonating with those species in particular. They are incredibly hard to find and are finite, so they are also incredibly expensive. You can find them online, but the internet is rife with knockoffs that are glorified marbles.”

“So we can buy them online?”

“You can, but be careful doing it,” Jon explained. “I’ll send you the websites I found these on. If you find other websites, and the prices are significantly cheaper, or they advertise they have heaps in stock, or just generally seem too good to be true, they probably are. That’s why they are banned in competition. It is just too hard for people to get them, and advantage shouldn’t be given based on who can afford to spend a lot of money on these things…”

As Jon mentioned that he had a thought.

“Actually, it would do you good to keep these far away from you whenever you do compete,” Jon continued. “These don’t allow Mega Evolutions, but just make it accessible. Pokemon are capable of Mega Evolving without them, but it is just incredibly rare. And if you’re in a battle where one of your Pokemon Mega Evolves without using these, and you’re seen to have it on you, it won’t look good…”

“Is that why you went for the more subtle option?” Charlotte asked, noting how none of the keystones, at first glance, aroused any suspicions. “Most of the keystones I’ve seen have been these thick, ugly bangles.”

“Exactly,” Jon answered. “A little subtlety goes a long way.”

“But what about our Pokemon?” Abbee asked, confusing Jon slightly with the question. “Our Pokemon need to wear the Mega Stones for them to be able to activate, but they will stand out.”

“Good point…” Jon remarked. “I hadn’t even considered that. I was so hell bent on finding these things, it hadn’t even crossed my mind…”

“It’s not the end of the world,” Dylan interjected. “Think about it, in the last two years, when things have gotten hairy, how often have our Pokemon had to battle without us there to at least prep them? I know that Latios had to battle without Jon back on the Whirl Islands, and Charlotte, Magmortar fought Deoxys whilst you tried to get the Master Ball from the lodge. But even then, you had been around long enough and given it instructions…”

“I’m confused,” Justin interjected, before Dylan continued.

“Our Pokemon don’t need to wear the Mega Stones all the time. That would be silly, putting them on display. Even if we tried to remove them before they were seen by anyone, we may just slip up, and forget that they are holding them when we let them out of the Pokeball. It would be better if instead of them always wearing them and we take them off when they aren’t needed, we hold onto them, and give them to them when they are,” Dylan explained. “It’s not likely that a battle will start and before we can give them the Mega Stones, something happens…”

“These things are tiny though,” Abbee answered. “I’m likely to lose it…”

“No, I’ve got an idea,” Dylan answered. “Keyring.”

“Keyring?” Abbee asked.

“Look on Etsy, or any of those marketplaces for freelance artists, and you will find handmade keyrings with fake Mega Stones. They’re purely decorative, and a subtle way for people to show off what their favourite Pokemon are,” Dylan explained, opening his phone to Etsy, and finding an image of one. “This one here, really is a marble, pressed into a semi rigid metal frame. With enough pressure, it can pop in or out.”

“So we get a few of these keyrings, and replace their fake Mega Stones with our real ones,” Chris continued. “Pretend it’s some cheesy friendship bracelet type thing we all decided to do…”

“Then, if the situation arises we need them, we just remove them from the keyring, and give it to the Pokemon,” Dylan concluded.

“What about if the Pokemon drops it?” Justin asked, “Lucario will be handicapped trying to fight and keep the stone held tightly at all times…”

“The stone is temporarily consumed,” Jon explained. “During Mega Evolution, the stone is effectively absorbed by the Pokemon holding it. Which is handy because it means it can’t be stolen…”

“I think you’ve got it,” Chris said to Dylan, who tapped a few more buttons on his phone.

“I’ve ordered a half dozen of these keyrings,” Dylan explained. “The seller is in Fortree, so it will take two or three weeks before they arrive. Until then, don’t lose the stones…”

Jon nodded, thankful that Dylan was his right-hand man in all matters relating to the Academy. Charlotte was next to speak up.

“So we have until tomorrow to be able to practise with these things before all the others arrive?” Charlotte asked with a grin. “I think I know how I want to spend this afternoon…”

************************************************** ************************************************** *****

Whilst the first battles of the previous summers followed the same fixture, given Chris and Charlotte’s tendency to draw, and Chris now having the advantage of a Legendary Pokemon, Jon changed the fixture, intentionally creating match-ups that were less frequent in previous years. Whilst in terms of sheer skill, Chris and Charlotte had Abbee and Justin beat, Abbee’s bond and experience with Victini evened the odds in a battle against Chris, even with Lugia in his corner, and whilst Justin had Regieleki, and had improved drastically as a battler in the last two years, Charlotte was still his match without having a Legendary Pokemon she could use. This then left Jon to face Dylan, who had the most experience battling against Jon, and Dylan lacking any major gaps in his battling that Jon could exploit…

The trainers were each given a few minutes to research their own Mega Evolved Pokemon online, though instructed not to do any research then and there on their opponents.

“You ready?” Charlotte called out to Justin, having selected her own Pokeball. Justin unclipped one of his own, before nodding.

“Begin!”

Justin sent out Alakazam, and whilst that had become somewhat of a staple to his battling technique since he captured Regieleki, he had developed in the last year a little more flexibility with Alakazam, trying to break the pattern of using the same tactics with the Pokemon. Charlotte, although not so much, was still somewhat predictable with sending in Luxray to begin.

“Agility!” Charlotte called out to Luxray, knowing Alakazam’s tendency to use Speed Swap. Whilst Speed Swap would switch the two Pokemon’s natural speed, any enhancements such as Agility remained as they were, and with Luxray under the effect of Agility, it would be faster than Alakazam regardless. This meant that instead of Speed Swap, Alakazam would have to instead use the temporary…

“Trick Room!”

There was a flicker in the space of the battlefield, before Alakazam, whilst still retaining it’s natural slowness, was able to act quicker than Luxray, though Luxray still retained its natural reaction speed.


“Calm Mind!” Justin commanded Alakazam, opting to have Alakazam go on the offensive in this round, instead of purely being a tank. Whilst Alakazam was offensively weaker than it was before Justin focused training on defence, its resilience allowed it to last longer, and deal more damage over a longer period of time, and Calm Mind all but made up for the missing attack power.

“Thunder!”

Luxray roared as an intense bolt of lightning arced from it, towards Alakazam. On release, the attack seemed like it would hit, however Luxray’s aim had been off by a matter of degrees, which translated to a matter of meters by the time the bolt struck the other end of the battlefield moments later.

“Psychic!” Justin called out. He considered using Calm Mind again, however knew if Charlotte were going on the offensive now, chances are he wouldn’t get many more opportunities to attack.

“Protect!”

Luxray raised a Protect barrier, blocking the telekinetic blast, however creating an opportunity for Justin to retaliate and throw a spanner in the works for his opponent.

“Disable!”

Alakazam’s eyes glowed white, placing a telepathic block on Luxray, temporarily rendering it unable to use Protect.

“Yes Justin!” Jon called out encouragingly, knowing that all too often, the opportunity that Justin just took tended to go unnoticed by most trainers.

“Thunder!” Charlotte commanded. This time, Luxray’s aim was true, as the intense bolt of lightning struck the Psychic Type, slamming it back a few meters, before the lightning dissipated, and Alakazam seemed slowed, having been paralyzed by the electric attack.

“Psychic!” Justin called out in retaliation, knowing Luxray couldn’t block the attack with Protect. However, given Alakazam’s slowness, and Luxray’s own increased speed, dodging the blast was little challenge for Luxray.

“What’s she doing?” Chris asked Abbee, noticing Charlotte’s right hand held behind her back, with her thumb tucked in, and four fingers out.

Before Abbee could even process what Chris was talking about, Charlotte gave her next command.

“Charge!” Charlotte commanded, as Luxray began charging electricity, and Chris and Abbee noticed her thumb untuck, leaving all five fingers raised.

“She’s counting,” Abbee began, as there was another flicker on the battlefield, as Trick Room ended, reverting the timing of the battle to it’s natural order.

“Now, Electro Ball!”

Luxray, having charged electricity, discharged a large amount of it, however this time, instead of being in a quick bolt of lightning, as a large orb of pulsing electricity, which launched towards Alakazam. The Pokemon was struck by the powerful attack, made stronger by the large gap in speed between the two Pokemon, and thrown back, knocked unconscious.

“Alakazam is unable to battle!” Jon called out, as Justin returned his fainted Pokemon, selecting his next.

“Lucario, let’s shake this s**t up!” Justin called out with a grin, knowing that for all present, this was going to be something new.

Lucario emerged from its Pokeball, holding the Mega Stone Justin had given it before the battle in one of its paws, as Jon called for the battle to begin.

“Thunderbolt!” Charlotte called out, opting for a less powerful, but more accurate attack. The attack struck, as Justin grabbed the pendant that hung from the leather cord around his neck, pressing the stone into it.

Lucario erupted into a shocking rainbow light, before emerging standing slightly taller, somewhat more battle-worn, with red highlights in its fur.

“Agility!” Justin commanded, as Lucario cried out, its speed increasing, before Justin gave his next instruction. “Drain Punch!”

Lucario darted forward, earning a slightly quizzical look from Dylan who seemed confused for a moment, before seeming to understand something, and making a mental note to watch closely when the others Mega Evolved their Pokemon. Drain Punch struck Luxray hard, draining its energy and replenishing Lucario’s, leaving it practically untouched by the Thunderbolt Luxray had landed earlier.

“Charge!” Charlotte commanded, knowing Lucario did use some special moves, and that Drain Punch was a relatively weaker physical attack, with the trade-off being the restorative effects. If Justin wanted Lucario to finish off Luxray in one more turn, he’d have to attack recklessly, with a move such as Close Combat, which Justin wouldn’t do this early in the matchup.

“Power-Up Punch!”

Lucario launched itself forward, hitting Luxray with a relatively weaker punch, its own attack power increasing, however to Charlotte’s surprise, Luxray was thrown to the ground, knocked out cold.

“Is Mega Lucario that much stronger?” Charlotte asked, as she returned Luxray to his Pokeball. “Even for a Mega, I didn’t think Drain Punch and Power-Up Punch could drop Luxray like that…”

Justin grinned, not wanting to give away Mega Lucario’s secret weapon while the battle was still raging. Mega Lucario’s attack power did increase, but only by thirty percent. Instead, it’s ability shifted from being passive, to a much more offensively oriented Adaptability, causing any Fighting or Steel Type moves to do even more damage than they naturally would.

“Go, Magmortar!” Charlotte called out, sending out her second Pokemon. This was one that Justin had least experience with, however its Fire Typing limited Lucario’s moves a little more. Between that and the ferocity of Magmortar’s special attacks, Justin knew that this round would not be as easy, even for Mega Lucario, as the previous round was.

“Zen Headbutt!” Justin called out. Whilst Zen Headbutt wouldn’t be as powerful as some of Lucario’s other attacks, it had the chance to make Magmortar flinch, buying Justin more time before Magmortar rained down fire and brimstone on Lucario.

Magmortar took the attack, causing it to flinch, however Lucario seemed to cringe back in pain, as Justin realized the mistake he had just made, and why exactly Charlotte had opted for Magmortar. It wasn’t for the Pokemon’s Fire Typing, or even its immense special attack power, though both would be problematic for Justin anyway. Instead, Charlotte had sent out Magmortar for one reason. Flame Body.

Lucario winced in pain at the burn it sustained from making contact with the Pokemon, and Justin knew that the burn would cause Lucario to roll punches on any physical attacks, less it put itself through more pain.

Justin considered his next moves in the moments he had before the opportunity to strike would pass, and Magmortar would attack itself. Whilst Lucario did know Aura Sphere, and Mega Lucario’s special attack capabilities were practically on par with physical attacks, Lucario would rely on Drain Punch to restore its own energy, which was going to be affected by the burn. Additionally, Lucario had already used one Power-Up Punch, and all it would take is one more to effectively negate the effects of the burn.

“Power-Up Punch!” Justin commanded, as Lucario launched itself into Magmortar, striking the Pokemon with a weaker, albeit still powerful, punch. Magmortar took the hit, stepping back, before Charlotte gave her instruction.

“Scary Face.”

Magmortar glared menacingly at Lucario, causing it to hesitate for a second, and seem to slow, before Justin got its attention once more.

“It’s almost down!” Justin called out. “One more Power-Up Punch!”

True to Justin’s word, the attack Lucario launched was the last one Magmortar could take, falling under the strike, as Lucario’s own strength began to increase further.

“Who do you think has this?” Dylan asked Jon as he stood next to him, who watched intently.

“I have a rough idea, but who do you think?” Jon asked. “I know you’ve gotten pretty good at reading the battle in the last few years. I’m curious to see if we’re on the same page…”

Dylan thought over the last few moves he had seen.

“Justin’s done really well using Mega Lucario and making the most of its strengths. But really, Charlotte’s got this,” Dylan answered, as Jon nodded in approval. “Not because Justin has done something wrong, but Charlotte is just that good…”

“Keep going…” Jon prompted Dylan.

“Not many people would see that burn tactic coming, and if there is ever a situation where that tactic would work well, that would be it,” Dylan answered. “But the fact she had Magmortar use Scary Face, and not just attack when it could, means she has something big planned, and wants Lucario slowed before then. And she still hasn’t used her Mega…”

“Spot on…”

Charlotte returned Magmortar, as Dylan focused on Charlotte, watching as he knew which Pokemon she would be sending out. She was the one who wanted to test out the Mega Stones most, which meant her Mega Pokemon would be making its debut appearance now.

“Go, Gengar!”

Justin was slightly surprised to hear this. He did hear Jon mention Charlotte having a Gengar earlier, but amidst the excitement of the Mega Stones, hadn’t realized that he had never seen her with a Gengar in the time he knew her, meaning this was likely a new Pokemon.

Gengar emerged from its Pokeball, this being the first time Justin, Chris or Abbee had seen the Pokemon, with Jon and Dylan being regular training partners for it since Charlotte moved to the Academy a month earlier.

Charlotte lifted her left arm, revealing the bracelet, before pressing the key-stone into the charm that housed it, causing Gengar to erupt into a bright light. As it emerged, with a somewhat different shape, a third eye, and a magenta hue covering its bottom half, Charlotte gave the more menacing Mega Gengar its first command.

“Hex!”

Gengar cried out gleefully, as a spectral orb launched from it, directly towards Mega Lucario, hitting the Pokemon, and dealing extra damage due to its burn. Lucario cried out in pain before falling unconscious, as Justin grimaced, knowing that even with his final Pokemon being a Legendary, he was going to be fighting a difficult battle.

Dylan, having watched the speed in which Mega Gengar took action, waited to see the next move.

“Go Regieleki!”

The electric golem buzzed happily, as it seemed to dance on the spot from one of its small legs to the other, as Justin gave the first command.

“Thunder Cage!”

With insane speed, Regieleki leapt forward, floating into the air above Gengar, launching down a dozen smaller bolts of lightning, which struck the earth, and joined together above Gengar when the golem returned to the ground, shocking the ghost type, and trapping it in the cage.

“Toxic!” Charlotte commanded.

Gengar’s menacing grin widened, as it opened its mouth, launching a purple orb, which struck the Legendary Pokemon, poisoning it badly.

“Zap Cannon!”

Regieleki charged up a beam of electricity, aiming it at Gengar, who was trapped in the Thunder Cage, before launching an electrical blast, the calibre of which the trainers had only witnessed from Regieleki.

Seeing the attack coming, Gengar ducked, sinking into the ground, as the electrical blast narrowly passed over it.

“Now Hex!”

Gengar re-emerged from the ground beneath it, before launching the same attack that beat Mega Lucario, this time, hitting Regieleki, and like Lucario before it, knocking it unconscious, and in this case, winning Charlotte the battle…

As the pair met to shake hands, Charlotte was the first to speak.

“So now the battle is over, can you tell me how Lucario took down Luxray so quickly?” Charlotte asked, causing Justin to laugh.

“Mega Lucario has the ability Adaptability,” Justin answered. “It’s attack goes up by about 30% regardless, then Adaptability increases the boost it would normally get for using a move of its own typing. So a Drain Punch from Mega Lucario is about as strong as a Close Combat from normal Lucario…”

“Similar to Regieleki then?” Charlotte asked, knowing how Regieleki’s ability increased its attack power for electric moves.

“Exactly. What about Gengar?” Justin asked. “How is Mega Gengar different?”

“Most notably are its higher Special Attack power, and Speed. But also its ability. Shadow Tag,” Charlotte explained. “It prevents Gengar’s opponent from switching out through conventional means.”

“Wait, you didn’t even use that?” Justin asked.

“I had no reason to. You were down to your last Pokemon,” Charlotte answered.

“Because you held out until the end to use Gengar,” Justin retorted.

“I mean, yeah…” Charlotte said. “I wanted to see if I could bring down a mega without using one myself…”

Justin sighed.

“Goddamn you’re terrifying. God help us when you are able to battle with Deoxys…”

As the pair talked, Jon noticed Dylan watching Mega Gengar intently, and the gears turning in his head. Jon tried to figure out what Dylan was thinking about, but relented, and asked.

“Something on your mind?” Jon asked, before nodding towards Mega Gengar.

“There is…” Dylan said, before seeming to realize something in Jon’s tone. “You haven’t seen it?”

“Seen what?” Jon asked, looking back at Mega Gengar.

“Nothing…” Dylan said. “I’ll tell you after our battle…”

Finding himself more confused, Jon looked back at Mega Gengar, curious to know what Dylan had picked up that would help with his battle against Jon. Noticing Justin and Charlotte walking towards the group, he shook off the thought, before addressing them.

“Both of you did well. Justin, you managed to incorporate all of Lucario’s new tricks very well for your first battle. And honestly, if you were against anyone else, you’d have taken the win. But Charlotte here is that terrifying mixture of a little crazy, but good enough to back it up…” Jon explained, as Chris laughed, before turning to Charlotte. “You took a risk, holding Gengar until the end, but everything you did before then, you did exceptionally, which made the risk negligible. Even having Luxray use Agility so that Justin wouldn’t try and Speed Swap, then using Alakazam’s slowness to beat it, and using Magmortar as a way to slow and burn Lucario, which crippled its attack power. I’ve trained you long enough to know none of those decisions were reckless. Each and every one was well thought out, and with purpose.”

Jon turned to Justin again, wanting to make sure Justin knew his loss wasn’t from a fault of his own.

“You did extremely well getting her down to her last Pokemon,” Jon said. “But Charlotte even scares me a little…”

A few minutes later, Chris and Abbee were at their respective sides of the battlefield, each with their first Pokemon selected.

“You know I won’t go easy on you!” Chris called out, causing Abbee to snort with derision.

“That’s real cute,” Abbee retorted, as she sent out her first Pokemon. The rest of the interns were slightly surprised to see Abbee send out a Glaceon.

“You finally evolved your Eevee?” Dylan asked, seeming surprised, given how long she had the Pokemon before it evolved. Abbee touched a finger to her lips in a sign of silence, before winking at Dylan. Apparently he knew something that she didn’t want Chris knowing.

Chris sent out the Pokemon in the Pokeball in his hand, revealing it to be Garchomp.

“Begin!”

“Dragon Rush!” Chris called out, as Garchomp became encased in a draconic aura, and rushed towards Glaceon, blades extended.

“Frost Breath!”

Glaceon cried out, as an icy haze erupted from its jaws, buffeting Garchomp as the Pokemon rushed through it towards its prey.

“Can Glaceon take down Garchomp?” Justin asked. “It’s still fairly young, and Garchomp is Chris’ heavy hitter…”

“The fact it is young is what puts them on a similar level,” Charlotte answered. “Because that double advantage will hurt Garchomp even if Glaceon is weaker.”

Glaceon took the first hit and was thrown back a little. However, Garchomp was now in close quarters, where it was at its strongest.

“Glaceon is the Eevee evolution better suited to special attacks though, right?” Justin asked. “Isn’t it pretty hopeless at physical attacks?”

“Fire Fang!” Chris shouted, as Garchomps jaws erupted with flames, before it launched itself towards Glaceon, biting it.

“It is…” Dylan answered, realizing what Abbee’s gesture and wink meant. “Except Glaceon wasn’t her first idea for evolving Eevee…”

“Avalanche!” Abbee called out. Glaceon took the damage of the Fire Fang attack and with the last of its strength, summoned a cloud, which began to rain down with vast amounts of heavy snow, pelting Garchomp, and knocking it out as well.

“Abbee had looked into applying to be a trainer at Flannery’s Gym in Lavaridge town, and was training her Eevee to potentially evolve into a Flareon, which are better physical attackers,” Dylan explained, remembering her telling him in a message during the year. “Then she got the job in Nimbasa City, and they had a lot of Jolteon there already. She must have evolved it into Glaceon to give her team a little more coverage…”

“It worked…” Charlotte said, realizing that Abbee had lured Chris into a false sense of security by letting Garchomp get close.

“What was it you said about going easy?” Abbee asked, as she selected her next Pokeball.

“I stand corrected,” Chris replied, as he selected his own, knowing which Pokemon Abbee would be using next. Both trainers threw their Pokeballs in sync, revealing Abbee’s Victini, and Chris’ young Lugia.

“This’ll be good…” Jon said, as he looked over at Chris’ side of the field. Lugia was only seven feet from nose to tail, making it a little larger than Latios already, however Jon knew Lugia would grow to be the largest Pokemon in possession of anyone in that room, with the exception of Rayquaza.

“Victini, Flame Snare!” Abbee called out, confusing the others who had never heard of the move. It was one of her and Victini’s own creations, inspired by the Grass Knot attack.
Victini darted towards Lugia, intentionally running for the Legendary Pokemon’s large feet. The Victory Pokemon threw a small fireball between Lugia’s legs, hitting its tail, and causing it to stumble forward, as Victini encased himself in flames. Lugia instinctively stepped forward to get away from the flame burning its tail, tripping over Victini, and crashing to the ground.

“Double Team!” Chris called out, hoping to buy Lugia time to regain its footing, and make its own attack. Lugia split into three apparitions, all in the same position Lugia was in, all three of which then flapped their large wings, bringing them into the air a few feet above the ground.

“Work Up!” Abbee called out, as Victini’s offensive power began to increase. Seeing the opportunity, Chris called out for Lugia’s next move.

“Hydro Pump!”

All of the apparitions opened their jaws, releasing a large and heavy torrent of water, however only one was real, hitting Victini, and throwing him across the field.

”That sucks…” Victini said telepathically to Abbee with a shudder.

”Think you can find the real one?” Abbee replied with her own thoughts.

”Scizor beat me with the same tactic three years ago…” Victini retorted. ”That’s a long time to figure out a countermeasure…”

Abbee grinned, knowing just how much Victini wanted another crack at Scizor, as she saw images of Victini’s plan flood her mind.

”Then let’s go in guns blazing…”

“Flame Charge!” Abbee commanded, though the command itself was a feint.

Victini broadened his senses, listening for the sound of movement, sniffing for the smell of another Pokemon, and telepathically reaching out to find his opponent.

”I got him…” Victini said, as he darted towards the Lugia in the center, one of the copies, knowing this opportunity would be too good for Chris to ignore. He began to encase himself in weaker flames, however this was unlike the Flame Charge Abbee had ordered, or even V-Create which until recently, was Victini’s most powerful move…

“Aeroblast!” Chris called out, as the apparitions all began charging a blast of condensed wind, the one from the right which would strike Victini in a matter of seconds.

“V-Compress!”

Jon was surprised to hear this, having never heard of the move before, especially seeing as the implication of it was that it was a signature move of Victini.

Victini changed course in an instant, charging directly towards the real Lugia, as he encased himself in a telekinetic bubble, barely larger than himself, and launched himself towards the much larger Pokemon. As he did this, he increased the output of his flames to even higher than what V-Create normally was, with the telekinetic bubble barely able to contain the outward force of them.

Lugia launched Aeroblast, which struck Victini moments before Victini would have made contact with Lugia. The telekinetic bubble burst, causing all the compressed fire Victini was forcing from himself to erupt into an explosion. Under normal circumstances, this attack would be devastating on its own, however mixed with the compressed air of Lugia’s Aeroblast, acting as a ready fuel, the flames continued to expand rapidly outwards, throwing Lugia back towards Chris, who had to dive out of the way to not be crushed by the two hundred pound Pokemon.

“Sorry!” Abbee called out, realizing she nearly killed her boyfriend with a very enthusiastic attack from Victini.

“Goddamn…” Jon muttered, looking at the little Mythical Pokemon, who whilst looking a little worse for wear, didn’t seem to be on the brink of fainting like Jon would have expected from a stunt like that. Victini seemed to notice Jon’s attention on him and reached out with his mind, as well as Abbee.

”I’ve got one of them with Scizor’s name on it…” Jon heard Victini say, as the Mythical Pokemon flashed him a grin.

“Abbee, we’ve created a monster…” Jon called out, knowing exactly that Victini had learnt how to hit Lugia the way he did because of his battle against Jon’s Scizor on the S.S. Wishmaker.

“Justin too,” Abbee explained. “During the fight with the Golem last year, his Alakazam compressed Victini during a V-Create to make it more explosive. That served as the inspiration…”

Jon looked over at Chris, who seemed a little downcast that his own Legendary Pokemon was beaten so dramatically.

“Don’t take it personally Chris,” Jon called out. “Lugia is young, and Victini has had a lot of experience. Both dealing with Double Team, and improvised attacks. Lugia will get there eventually…”

Chris took the advice, trying to shake off his own doubts, knowing he still had one Pokemon left, and from what Jon told him, this Pokemon should be stronger than Jon’s Latios after it Mega Evolved.

“Charizard, it’s all on you!”

Chris’ Charizard entered the battlefield, as Chris, like Charlotte and Justin before him, pressed the Key Stone, embedded into the stainless steel wristband he wore. Charizard roared, before erupting into a flash of light. Once the lightshow ceased, Charizard was nearly unrecognizable. Whilst the overall shape was the same, instead of being an orange and cream colour, it was now black and blue, with blue flames leaking out of the side of its mouth…

“Holy s**t…” Chris said to himself, unable to hide the goofy smile that had struck him. Abbee couldn’t help but grin at how happy this made him.

”You do remember, this is a battle, right?” Victini asked Abbee telepathically, who quickly apologized, before making the most of the opportunity.

“Future Sight!” Abbee commanded, as Victini grinned menacingly, this tactic being one of his favourites. Victini’s eyes flashed, as Chris regained his focus, giving Charizard his first command.

“Power-Up Punch!”

On the side-lines, Justin and Charlotte were both confused for a minute.

“You ever seen his Charizard use Power-Up Punch?” Justin asked.

“No, never…” Charlotte replied, before a flicker of understanding struck her. She looked to Justin, who seemed to have the same realization.

“Mega Charizard has an ability that is making it stronger…” Justin said, with Charlotte nodding in confirmation. “Like what I was doing. Power-Up Punch is now much better for dealing damage, with the bonus of the attack boost to sweeten the deal…”

“Tough Claws,” Jon said to them as he overheard their chatter. “Any move that makes contact is stronger. But he is using one of the first strategies I taught you guys…”

“And that is?” Justin asked, having been too focused on the newly Mega Evolved Pokemon in the stadium.

“Victini is badly weakened from the battle with Lugia and poses no real threat,” Dylan answered, leaving Jon feeling somewhat more proud of his second in command. “Charizard could wipe it out with an Earthquake or Brutal Swing in a single hit. Or instead use this instance of little to no danger to set itself up for the more difficult battle…”

The attack struck Victini, who was showing signs of exhaustion, and struggling to battle. Abbee went to call out her next attack, but was interrupted by Victini.

”No, I got an idea…”

Chris took the opportunity to order another Power-Up Punch, which Victini didn’t avoid, instead, taking the attack, and focusing purely on remaining standing for a few seconds more. Shaky on his feet, Victini used one last move before he fell, projecting into everyone's minds exactly what he was doing.

”Power Swap…”

Charizards boosts to attack power were transferred to Victini, who then dropped to the ground unconscious. Chris looked at the Mythical Pokemon in amazement, as Abbee called him back to his Pokeball.

“I think he did that to spite me…” Chris called out. “Don’t get me wrong, that was brilliant…”

“Oh he definitely did,” Abbee laughed, though extremely thankful Victini’s somewhat twisted relationship with Chris had brought this about. She had seen what Chris was doing, and short of withdrawing Victini, and having to send him out again later, she thought of no other way out.

Abbee sent out her final Pokemon, Ampharos, before pressing the stone in the locket around her neck, causing Ampharos to Mega Evolve. As the light dissipated, Justin was the first to speak, albeit, a little too loudly.

“Why does Ampharos look like he has just come back from the salon?”

Jon, who had been taking a drink from his water bottle at that exact moment, lost control, attempting to laugh, and spraying water out of his nose, causing Charlotte and Justin to both laugh hysterically, as Dylan shook his head at the exchange.

“Time to start this again…” Chris called out. “Power-Up Punch!”

Charizard darted forward, as Ampharos, much slower than its opponent, didn’t attempt to dodge, instead, using the time to line up its own attack.

“Thunder Wave!”

Ampharos cried out, having been hit by the Power-Up Punch, before launching its own weaker, yet crippling attack, striking Charizard and causing its muscles to spasm and cramp. Before Abbee could give another command, Charizard was thrown back across the field by Victini’s Future Sight attack from earlier.

“Now Power Gem!” Abbee commanded, as Ampharos prepared the rock type attack.

“Neither of them realize, do they?” Dylan asked. He had seen this matchup going one way, and hadn’t accounted for neither trainer not realizing. “That the other Pokemon has become a Dragon Type?”

“They will soon enough…”

Charizard was struck by the beam of light that blasted from the red orb on Ampharos’ forehead, though Abbee was shocked at the fact Charizard wasn’t knocked out, seeing as it has a double disadvantage to rock moves.

“Dragon Rush!” Chris shouted. Charizard fought through the aches in its body, encasing itself in a draconic aura, and launching itself towards Ampharos, who attempted to dodge, only being hit by the edge of the attack, though still being thrown back. Chris looked in surprise at the amount of damage the scrape did, something not adding up…

“Wait for it…” Jon said, seeing the gears spinning in both trainers' heads, as they realized why neither attack went how they had predicted. Simultaneously, their eyes widened, as they made eye contact with one another, and those spectating burst into laughter.

“Confuse Ray!” Abbee called out, knowing that while a Dragon Pulse from Ampharos had a good chance of knocking out Charizard, Charizard was near certain to be able to take out Ampharos in a single hit, opting instead to buy time.

“Outrage!” Chris called out, however Charizard, both paralyzed and confused, stumbled around the battlefield.

“Charge Beam!” Abbee shouted. Ampharos cried out, launching the straight beam of electricity, which struck Charizard, not seeming to do much damage, but causing Ampharos’ special attack power to rise. Her next attack would be the one to end it.

“Outrage!” Chris called out again, as Charizard roared, fighting through the confusion and paralysis. The roar went from being one of determination to one of sheer violent rage, as the flames leaking from its jaws extended, leaving it encased, as it leapt towards Ampharos. The attack, a violent tackle with reckless abandon, struck Ampharos, throwing the Pokemon across the battlefield unconscious, as paralysis got the better of Charizard, and prevented it from moving, pulling it from its rage.

“Honestly, this was a battle I could not have guessed the outcome of, since you both had factors working for and against you. In terms of Legendary Pokemon, Abbee had Victini, who is a lot more experienced, and the fact Victini can communicate telepathically so easily gives her a clear advantage over you and Lugia,” Jon said to Chris. “On the flip side, Mega Ampharos’ ability was one that had no effect in this battle, while Mega Charizard X had one that gave it a massive edge in this round.”

Jon thought over the last match-up of the battle.

“Abbee, I think you could have hit Charizard with a Dragon Pulse instead of a Charge Beam, and taken the match. At the same time, Chris made a very good call using Outrage. Outrage’s downfall is that once it is used, the Pokemon will use it until it physically or mentally can’t anymore, but the paralysis and confusion would have interrupted it before Charizard got to that point,” Jon explained. “You did well. This was a fairly even match to begin with. But Chris made a very good call and it got him the match.”

The final match was between Jon and Dylan, and whilst all spectating knew of Jon’s legendary skill, some more than others, Dylan had also impressed all of them, between the Deoxys incident as well as that on the Whirl Islands. If they had faith anyone could give Jon a run for his money, it was Dylan. Whilst offensively he wasn’t as skilled as the other four, his skills left little gaps to exploit, something that Jon relied heavily on to win.

“Begin!” Charlotte called out, as both trainers selected their first Pokemon.

“Go Sceptile!” Dylan called out, as the grass type emerged from its Pokeball, crying out enthusiastically as Jon sent in his first Pokemon.

“Go Jolteon!”

The electric Pokemon cried out happily, before focusing on its opponent. Whilst Jolteon was faster than the average Pokemon, Sceptile was also relatively fast, meaning Jolteon’s edge in its speed did less than it would have against one of Dylan’s other Pokemon. Jon however knew that Dylan had the advantage out of the gate, both with Sceptile’s resistance to electric attacks, and the annoying fact it knew Earthquake.

“Magnet Rise!” Jon commanded, making the most of Jolteon’s ability to act first in this matchup. Whilst he didn’t think Dylan would go for something so obvious, Jon knew he wouldn’t let an opportunity like that slip.

“Swagger!” Dylan responded, as Sceptile taunted Jolteon, causing its attack strength to go up, however confusing it in the process. Jolteon cried out in confusion, as Jon readied his next move.

“Thunderbolt!” Jon commanded, opting for the weaker, yet more accurate attack, which Dylan was quick to respond to.

“Protect!” Dylan responded, making the most of the fact that he had a slower Pokemon, and reacting to Jolteon’s movements.

“Jolteon’s more of a special attacker, right?” Chris asked Abbee, knowing that she knew the most of Eevee’s line out of the four of them. “It’s physical attack is nothing special?”

“Pretty much,” Abbee replied, understanding why Chris was asking. “That Swagger move isn’t going to give Jolteon too much of an edge.

Jon called out his next command to Jolteon, however in its confusion, it disobeyed, instead opting to use a tackle, before losing balance, and crashing to the ground, taking a small amount of damage. This was exactly what Dylan had been waiting for.

“Assurance!”

Before Jolteon could regain its footing, Sceptile leapt at it, slashing its blades at the Pokemon, knocking it back, as it slowly began to compose itself.

“Assurance works best if the target has just taken damage,” Charlotte said to the others. “It’s an alright move on its own, but it’s pretty heavy when the target is still recovering from a hit. Even their own…”

“So that’s why Dylan had Sceptile confuse it?” Justin asked, keeping his voice down as for Jon to not hear, though it being futile, as Jon had already come to that conclusion a few moments earlier.

“Exactly,” Charlotte answered. “Jolteon is too quick for Sceptile to be able to get two moves in before it makes its own. But by confusing it, he can prevent it from attacking half the time, and open up the opportunity to hit it hard…”

“Pin Missile!” Jon shouted, as Jolteon struggled through the confusion, and began launching the needle like fur that grew on its back. Four long, thin needles launched from its back, all of them striking Sceptile, and knocking the Pokemon out.

“Jolteon might not be the best physical attacker, but still, that was the risk,” Abbee said to her fellow spectators, as Dylan recalled his Pokemon, and sent out his next one.

“Go, Dusknoir!”

During their first year at the Academy, none of the others, Jon included, had predicted Dusknoir becoming a staple in Dylan’s team. The Pokemon was only a Duskull then, and he seemed much more comfortable with his Sceptile, Flygon, and even his Beldum, which evolved twice over the summer. However, after spending the next year at the Academy, they were shocked, both to see his Duskull had evolved twice, but also how effective it was under Dylan’s training. And knowing Jon was planning on using Blaziken, and likely Latios as well, this was the Pokemon they were most curious to see in action.

“Double Team!” Jon began, as Dylan gave his own command.

“Shadow Sneak!”

Whilst Jolteon was an exceptionally fast Pokemon, it couldn’t compete with the sheer speed of even a slow Pokemon like Dusknoir, using such a quick and versatile attack. Dusknoir seemed to dive into the ground, and a second later, erupted from behind Jolteon, knocking it forward, and after the heavy hit it received from Sceptile, knocking it out.

“Smart,” Jon said casually, as he returned Jolteon. “Very smart…”

Jon sent out his next Pokemon, it being no surprise when Blaziken entered the battlefield. All trainers there knew that Blaziken relied on being able to gain momentum, and Jon stood little to gain sending it out as his final Pokemon, even if he Mega Evolved it.

“Let’s see how you handle this…” Jon said with a smirk, as he held up is right hand, and pressed the stone in his ring, causing Blaziken to erupt into a chromatic light. As it emerged, it became obvious its colour scheme had shifted lightly, instead with black sections of feathers instead of the traditional orange, and the feathers that extend behind and downward from its head, now pointing upwards.

Whilst Dylan’s first thought was to be intimidated by the Pokemon in front of him, he focused on three things he knew. First was the observations he saw during Charlotte and Justin’s match, secondly, what he knew of Mega Blaziken from his own research before he even got his own Key Stone, and thirdly, what he knew of Jon. This was the time to act.

“Shadow Claw, Blaziken!” Jon commanded, as Blaziken darted forward, no faster than normal, and struck Dusknoir with a spectral claw.

“Future Sight!” Dylan retorted, as he noticed Jon’s eyebrows raise. Jon had never seen Dylan command his Dusknoir to use Future Sight, instead opting to use Ghost Type attacks, and knew that Dylan had a reason for this.

“Bulk Up!” Jon commanded, knowing Dusknoir was a physical attacker more so than special, and also wanting to increase Blaziken’s own strength.

“Skill Swap!” Dylan retorted, unable to hide the smug grin that emerged. At this point, after two moves, he had put into use all three things he had forced himself to focus on before.

Jon watched in horror as Blaziken’s Speed Boost ability was switched for Dusknoir’s much more common and less useful Pressure ability, before regaining composure and ordering his next attack.

“Shadow Claw, again!” Jon commanded, as Dylan responded.

“Endure!”

Blaziken’s attack struck, this time with much more force, and Dusknoir barely able to remain standing after withstanding the hit, though beginning to grow in speed. At that moment, Blaziken was struck hard by a telekinetic attack that seemed to come out of nowhere, as Future Sight did its damage.

“Faint Attack!” Jon called out, opting for a move he knew wouldn’t miss, though Dylan had seen this coming.

“Protect!”

At the last moment, Dusknoir raised a protect barrier, blocking Blaziken’s attack before its own speed increased further, with Jon unsure of whether Dusknoir was already faster than Mega Blaziken, having never seen Dylan opt for increasing Dusknoir’s speed in battle.

“Protect!” Jon called out, hoping to buy precious seconds to think of some countermeasure for when Dusknoir eventually became faster than it. However, the tactic that Jon had praised Justin for in his match, Dylan was going to use against him.

“Disable!” Dylan replied, as Dusknoir disabled Blaziken’s ability to use Protect, and Dusknoir sped up again, now faster than Blaziken, and able to get another move in, though still exhausted from running on the bare minimum of energy. “Now Earthquake!”

Dusknoir cried out, before striking the ground, causing it to shake from side to side underneath them, being super effective to Blaziken, and Dusknoir itself being too tired to avoid the full force of its own attack. Both Pokemon fell, however given the fact Blaziken had Mega Evolved, those spectating knew which trainer had impressed them more…

“Well, I didn’t think my debut run with Mega Blaziken would end like that…” Jon called out, sounding shocked more than anything, as he selected his final Pokeball. “I’m curious to know how you came up with that plan?”

“I can tell you part of it,” Dylan called out as he selected his third Pokemon. “I know three things. The first, I can’t tell you. The second is that Mega Blaziken is no different to normal Blaziken in terms of types or abilities, it’s just stronger and faster. And the third is that you can’t teach an old Growlithe new tricks…”

Jon grinned as he understood.

“All of our Mega Pokemon have either different types, or different abilities to what they’d normally have. Sometimes both. So we have to come up with new tactics to battle with them,” Dylan continued. “You, on the other hand, have barely changed the way you battle since I met you, and haven’t even changed your team at all. You use your tactics in very different ways, but at the end of the day, they work for you all the time when it matters. So when it comes to choosing your first Mega Pokemon, why not choose the one that lets you battle the same way that has worked for you for years…”

Those spectating took a moment to understand what Dylan was saying. Whilst all of them had to try new and experimental tactics on the fly, Jon’s battle was hardly any different to any of the dozens of others they had seen him do. On the one hand, it meant he was battling at his best, or in this case, better, with a powered-up Pokemon. On the other, it meant he was going to be a little more predictable, and easier to disturb.

“Go Dylan!” Chris cheered, causing Abbee to laugh. It was always nice to see Jon beaten by one of them. Justin had pulled it off this time the year before, however that was largely due to him shifting his style of battling majorly, and bringing a newly discovered Pokemon that Jon knew nothing about into the battle. Now both trainers were down to their final Pokemon, with Dylan’s Mega fresh and ready to battle, and based on his partial secrecy, one more ace up his sleeve.

It was little shock to the spectators when Jon sent out Latios, and Dylan sent out his shiny Metagross. And even less, when Dylan pressed the button on the side of his wrist watch, pushing a lever to activate the keystone that anchored the two hands to the face. Metagross erupted into a bright light, emerging with all four of its normally grounded limbs pointing forward from its now levitating body, and four smaller limbs pointing behind it.

“Guys, this is likely the strongest Pokemon on the island…” Chris said to the spectators, as he watched the Mega Evolved Pokemon in awe, and Jon ordered Latios to use Shadow Claw. “What do you think he will do first?”

Before any could answer, Dylan gave his first command.

“Protect!” Dylan commanded, much to Jon’s confusion, and Chris’ horror.

Latios struck the large protect barrier that Metagross erected, before Jon gave his next command.

“Shadow Ball!”

Latios launched a purple orb of spectral energy towards Metagross, who took the attack, stumbling a little, before darting towards the levitating dragon opposite it.

“Meteor Mash!” Dylan instructed, now seemingly going on the offensive. Like Chris’ Charizard, Metagross had the Tough Claws ability, powering up any and all moves that make contact. Meteor Mash hit Latios, and given Mega Metagross being as fast in battle as Latios, Dylan was able to instruct another attack.

“Now Iron Head!”

Its attack power raised by the successful Meteor Mash, Metagross launched itself into Latios, headbutting the Pokemon hard, causing it to be dazed, and miss the opportunity for another attack.

“Now end this with Bullet Punch!” Dylan commanded, as those spectating watched in shock as Metagross struck Latios with shocking speed, hitting the Pokemon with a relatively weaker attack, but given Mega Metagross’ strength, and the beating it had taken in the prior moves, Latios was knocked to the ground unconscious. Jon looked between Latios, Dylan and Metagross in shock and wonder.

“Okay, I get the feeling that first thing that you wouldn’t tell me about is something important…” Jon said as he called Latios back to its Pokeball. “Because you made this battle look way too easy…”

“I need to look into it further, but I am pretty certain I have it figured out…” Dylan explained. “Tell me the process of Mega Evolution.”

“We press the stone, our Pokemon light up like a Christmas tree, change shape, and are stronger,” Chris answered bluntly.

“See, I don’t think that’s the case,” Dylan said, looking to Chris now as well, then the others. “Who here thought the Pokemon was Mega evolved when the light disappeared?”

Everyone, Jon included, murmured in agreement.

“I don’t think that’s the case. I think the process is still being completed for a few seconds after the light disappears. In that moment, their typing and abilities have changed, but in terms of their attack, defence and speed, that takes a few seconds to increase,” Dylan answered, as Jon understood. “I noticed it mostly in Justin and Charlotte’s battle. Both Lucario and Gengar’s first move after they Mega Evolved seemed to be the same speed as they would be normally. It wasn’t until their next move that they seemed quicker than normal…”

“That’s why you used Protect as Mega Metagross’ first move?” Jon asked. “To give it time to complete the process, and prevent me from landing a hit while it was relatively weaker?”

“Exactly…” Dylan answered, as Charlotte spoke up next.

“Why Future Sight then when Jon’s Blaziken Mega Evolved?” Charlotte asked. “That didn’t hit until two turns later, when the process was complete. Dusknoir would have had some strong Ghost moves to hit with?”

“A couple of reasons. Future Sight is a weird move because it isn’t completely prediction based,” Dylan explained. “Think about it. If Future Sight is just an attack that is going to happen, we’d be avoiding random, powerful psychic attacks out of nowhere in our day to day lives. No, it is a mixture of seeing the future, but also changing the future to create that. And if Dusknoir creates that future when Blaziken’s stats are still relatively weaker…”

“Then it should hit the same,” Charlotte said, understanding Dylan’s reasoning, and finding herself impressed by the trainer. “And the other reason?”

“Most moves are either strong, or accurate. If they’re both, they are likely to have a drawback. It might be that they can’t be used many times in a battle, or have recoil damage, or put the user out of commission for a few seconds,” Dylan answered. “Future Sight is incredibly strong, and assuming the target hasn’t used Smokescreen or Double Team, or something like that, it should always hit. The trade-off is it takes a minute to actually take effect, but I could live with that. Otherwise, if I went for a ghost move, I’d be risking it being dodged, or it doing too little damage…”

Dylan seemed to have a thought, before continuing.

“That and Jon knew that I had figured something out during your battle with Justin, and I figured if I just straight up his Blaziken hard, and Blaziken took the damage while it was still relatively weaker, it might tip him off to this and do the same,” Dylan answered. This way it is far enough into the battle to not tip him off that the moments after the light disappears, they are still relatively weaker…”

“You all give me too much credit,” Jon retorted. “I’d have never picked that just from today. Hell, I don’t know why you’re all so shocked at Dylan beating me. You’re all giving me a run for my money at this point…”

Jon inspected the keystone embedded into his ring, before nodding to himself.

“But I’m glad you let us know that,” Jon explained, before turning to the others. “Remember, these aren’t for winning casual, or even competitive battles. These are for situations like the Deoxys incident, or the Whirl Islands, where you are at risk, and need all the advantages you can get to stay alive…”

Amidst the excitement of using their Mega Pokemon for the first time, the trainers, even Jon himself somewhat, had forgotten that caveat of them having Key Stones. They were most effective for the purpose Jon had sourced them for, if they were a well kept secret.

“But you all did well,” Jon continued. “Really well. I think given a bit more practise with these things, it would take a hell of a lot to beat the five of you when the s**t hits the fan…”

Jon glanced at his phone, seeing the time before addressing the interns again.

“I gotta go start working on dinner. But I’ll make sure you all have twenty-four hour access to the stadium. The students arrive tomorrow, and once they are here, only practise with Mega Evolved Pokemon during the night, and keep all the doors locked,” Jon instructed. “But dinner is at six in the lodge, so we can talk more about it then…”

When Jon knew there was no more pressing discussions to be had, he left the interns in the stadium to head to his house, none of them having been able to predict the way that afternoon would turn out.