So. It's been a while. Can't say I've missed doing this, really. For those of you who don't know me, and I'm suspecting that's 99.9% of you, I'm an old hat at this. I sucked at writing. Still do. But I've gotten better, and this is the first fanfiction I've wrote in nearly 6 years.

At least of publishing quality. I've wrote other shit but I don't talk about that. But for now, enjoy the story. Please review if you feel you can, tell me of any mistakes, or basic stupidity you find. Also, my grammar is crap. I am aware. By the way, do not read anything in my profile if you wish to save your sanity.


The World of Pokémon.

"The world of Pokémon has many stories and tales to it. Some are true, many are not. The story of the Creator Pokémon, Arceus? Real, or fake? The story of the birth of Mew, the other Pokémon so often credited with the creation of everyone? Real, or fake? Or are they both real? Both fake? No one knows.

"But there are many tales that remain true, because there is evidence for it. The story of Mega-Evolution, a process which further evolves certain Pokémon, is well known, and with documented proof of the action. Does that mean that we know what it is? Of course not. No one, for certain, knows everything about the natural world. But what we do know of Mega-Evolution…" the TV drawled off, cutting off near sharply afterwards with a burst of static.

"Doggone it, worthless TV! Work! I wanted to watch that!" came the shout of the old man. He lived alone in a small house, almost an apartment actually, on an island off the coast of Sinnoh. He was the Keeper of the Caves of Iron Island, a popular training spot for steel and rock types of Pokémon, seeing as they lived there naturally.

Originally Iron Island was a mine, but shortly after starting the excavations certain Pokémon in the area rose up, and started to be more aggressive towards the miners. A few studies on the area were done to show that the mine was originally harmless, as they had thought, but now that it had gone deeper in it was starting to disturb the Pokémon's original habitat.

Immediately, the Pokémon League of Sinnoh declared that the miners were to vacate the island, and leave it alone. They did so, near happily. The island wasn't far from Canalave City, but it was still half a day's travel away. Since then, the Pokémon have taken to exploring the new tunnels on their island, with a few rare species dominating the inward caves.

The Keeper of the Caves was a self-given title, as the Old Man lived alone. He had claimed it was his duty to protect Iron Island from nefarious travelers. Seeing as how the island was nearly filled with trainers from every corner of the world, it was safe to say that he had failed in that. However, he gave a free room for many of the trainers that got hurt battling the wild Pokémon to stay at, so he was allowed to stay.

The only reason Owyn, a small Riolu, knew this was because he had overheard the Old Man shouting on the phone many times that he was the "Keeper of the Caves" and that he had to "stay to protect it!" As it stood now, Owyn was also cursing the faulty wiring of the TV. He wasn't tall enough to look the window to watch it, but it was a good thing to listen to when on a break from training.

Not that he did that often. Taking breaks, not training. He trained a lot. A lot a lot. Even the other Riolu on the island, not that there were that many, trained as much or as hard as he did. They always asked him the same question every time, "Why train so hard? You're just going to get caught."

He always answered them the same way with a grin, as if it was some running joke, "To evolve!"

He always wanted to evolve. He had seen some Lucario fighting the outer Pokémon, such as Graveler or Onix, always at the beck and call of a Trainer, and knew that's what he wanted to do some day. Be as strong as they were, for the protection of all. He could do that, he knew he could!

Although right now his mind wasn't on evolution, but rather on the mechanical device that had once again bugged out from inside the home. "Stupid TV, actually having some worth listening to for once and it goes and does this…" he whispered to himself, ignoring the fact that it did this almost all the time. He kept his senses tuned for any trainers nearby, but at this time of day most of them would be out in the Caves or around the surface, not near the Old Man's house. It's why he felt safe enough to leave the innermost caves.

The Iron Island Caves was a wonder to behold in its entirety, if anyone could wrap their mind around it completely. There were the Outer caves, filled with Pokémon like Geodude, Graveler, and Onix. These were the caves that were built for the mine. The Inner caves had the much rarer Pokémon, such as his own Riolu. That said, the Inner caves were almost built around the outer ones, curving around the Outer ones with only a few places for the Inner caves to peep out into the manmade ones.

Very few Pokémon could navigate the Inner caves successfully. Owyn was not one of them. He could get around, eventually, but in general stuck to pretty much two areas of it. The entrance leading to the outside, and a smaller cave that he had pretty much claimed was his den. The other Riolu had one much like his, and near the same size as well. Of course they argued often who had the bigger one, but let it drop pretty easily.

The TV on the inside of the house kicked back on again, letting the Old Man and Owyn hear the last few minutes of the program, "And that was the 'History of Mega-Evolution'. We hoped you enjoyed watching! Now it's time for the Five o' clock news!

"Fascinating piece! Remember, you can own the 'History of Mega-Evolution' for only 15.99 if you call now, or just go to the Kalos region!" The TV said before static once again filled its screen. Owyn could hear the Old Man sigh from the inside.

"Ha. Kalos. That's more than halfway across the world." The grumpy man said loud enough for Owyn to hear easily.

The words however, struck a chord with Owyn. Mega-Evolution. A process to further evolve? His face almost lit up with a grin, thinking of a bigger and more powerful Lucario. The Pokémon was already strong, but to be better? To be faster, stronger! Oh yes, Owyn would figure out how to Mega-Evolve. He would protect everyone!

His mind filled with possibilities, he snuck back to the Inner cave area. A few of the Geodude woke up around the area as he passed. They looked at him for a few seconds with a glare for waking them up, before falling back asleep. He ignored them of course. The Geodude in the area were always angry at something. Whether it's from stepping next to them, to stepping on them, to knocking a few out, to the rain, something always pissed them off.

Light almost never entered the Inner caves besides the outside entrance, which was barely big enough for Owyn to squeeze through, so it was kind of shock to Owyn to see that the Caves were a lot brighter than they should be. He was about to ask aloud what was going on when he saw it.

There weren't many Riolu on Iron Island. Or rather, there weren't many Riolu in the Inner Caves on Iron Island. Because of this lack of Riolu, and their own fighting capacity, as even if they didn't train they could still hit pretty hard, each one got their own little room. Owyn's was the closest to the entrance, but even he could see the soft glow of a fire coming out of one of the other Riolu's areas.

He could hear voices too, ones that didn't seem too panicked. Must be under control then, or at least as under control as possible. Sure enough, when he looked he could see three other Riolu crowding around a small fire sitting in the middle of the area that often passed for a 'room'.

"Knock knock." Owyn called out, suppressing his own laugh. How many human characteristics have they taken on? It wasn't just him either; all the Riolu did it before entering one of the other's 'rooms'.

"Oh hey Owyn. Just got back from training?" called out one of the furthest ones that could easily look towards the outside. "Come on in and sit for a bit next to the fire."

"How'd you even get a fire in here, Anders?" Owyn asked, sitting down in front of the warm fire. He had never noticed it when outside, but it was cold enough in here to make his fur stand up. The room was sparse, as they all were; a smooth covered wall, probably from some Pokémon's Dig attack, a small thing of sand in the corner to make for a resting area, and that was about it. Well, except for the small woodpile in the opposite corner.

The fire area itself was again, small. Ringed with larger rocks to ensure that any jumping coals wouldn't go anywhere, although all of them thought that there wouldn't be any need to be worried; they lived in a cave.

Anders, the one that had called out to Owyn in the first place, took a moment to answer. "Uh…I asked someone to light a log so we can practice with it." Owyn made a moment to look around at the other three.

"Some practice." He said, not quite scowling but almost there. One of the other two lay on their back.

"Stuff it Owyn, not all of us like to just practice for our humans now like you do."

Anders' ears drooped a bit. "Kai!" he said.

"What? It's true! We'll get plenty of practice once we get captured by someone. Whether it's our choice or if they just flat out beat us. Then there's the other option."

The last one spoke softly, causing Owyn to have to lean in a bit to hear him, "Just be left in the computer permanently? Is that what you want, Kai?"

Kai closed his eyes, trying to ignore the other Riolu. "I can't hear you…and yes, Gabe, that is what I want. A life where we get fed for doing nothing."

Owyn couldn't help but smirk at the easy opening. Both Anders and Gabe looked at him, having the same idea. "But that's what you already have, Kai!" all three said at the same time, their voices echoing off the chamber walls.

"That's kind of the idea!" Kai said, rolling over onto his stomach, his eyes dancing in the flame's light.

"So what are you doing back so early Owyn? You're not usually back until later." Gabe asked. Owyn looked thoughtful for a moment, trying to think of a way to phrase it.

"Heard something interesting at the Old Man's house. Something about Mega-Evolution. Thought I'd come back and see if any others around here know anything more than "go to Kalos".

"Kalos?" Anders said, "Where's Kalos? I've never heard of the place."

"Really Anders? It's a far away continent. To the south of Unova. You know where Unova is right?" Kai asked from his place on the ground. "And I don't think anyone knows anything about Mega-Evolution. Heard of it though. Why? You want to mega-evolve?"

"You know it!" Owyn said, grabbing one of the logs from the woodpile and stuffing it into the dying out fire.

Kai seemed as if he would laugh, but decided at the last second that would take too much effort. "First you need to evolve. Then you need to get captured." He said. The silence reigned around the four with the only sound the now crackling fire.

A new arrival was only sounded by a soft "Knock, knock" at the entrance. Again, it wasn't an actual knock; it was just another Riolu saying the words "knock knock". The group turned around, except for Kai who just continued lying on the ground with his eyes turned towards the fire.

"Hey Lulu! Come on in!" Anders said, motioning the female Riolu to come inside his little "room". She accepted with a small nod before stepping inside. A slight scuffle as the group tried to nudge each other away to make room for her.

"What're you guys talking about?" She asked, sitting next to Anders and Kai. Kai made a slight sound that seemed to sound distinctly like a small chuckle.

"Trainy-boy over here thinks he can mega-evolve." He said, continuing to stare into the flames.

"What's that?" She asked with a tilt of her head. The others of the group seemed to stop for a second, before immediately looking straight at Kai. He sighed.

"A form beyond normal evolution. Rumors say it requires a trainer and a stone. And that's all I got."

"So Owyn's going to get captured?" Lulu asked with a near blank stare. Even for all of them, Lulu was great at masking herself. They had no idea what she was thinking.

Owyn shook his head. "No, I'm going to figure out how to do it without it. Just watch!" he said excitedly. Then he waited a few moments, before sitting back down. "Although I don't really know where to begin. Kalos supposedly holds the secret, but that's a far ways away."

The group stayed silent for a bit, seemingly contemplating the problem, before Gabe spoke up, "Why don't you let a human catch you? You could tell him that you want to go to Kalos. If you get lucky, he might take you."

Anders chuckled a bit. "Maybe, but how would he tell? They can't understand us; they don't know how we write…the communication gap seems too large to tell them something that specific."

"I think Gabe's onto something. Maybe not being caught though…maybe just riding with them?" Lulu asked.

"Would they notice a stowaway?" Owyn asked. He didn't think so though; he heard a lot of programs on TV about a stowaway meeting someone onboard the ships and then thing's happened…he didn't understand them.

Kai laughed. "Nah, they can't notice anything if it's not in front of them. But maybe you don't have to be a stowaway."

"Are you saying I buy a way onboard?"

"Could you? I mean I know you find a lot of change when you go outside." Anders asked. Owyn stared at him blankly.

"Two things. A. How do you know that? And B, how do I tell?" Owyn asked. The others shrugged, not knowing how humans counted their money. Riolu as a whole don't have any currency, because, well, they didn't need it.

The group seemed to snicker a bit, before Anders answered. "In the same order, everyone can hear the coins in your pocket. And I mean the rest of us do it too…just you do it the most. And for how to count I have no idea, but I think I know how we can find out."

"Before or after making an idiot out of him?" Gabe asked the now silent group. The awkward silence that had descended broke immediately as the group started laughing uproariously. Even Owyn had managed a grin at the joke, even if it was at his expense. The sounds echoed almost hollow throughout the caverns.

"Before, obviously! Here's my plan: we leave out some of those coins where the trainers can see them, and see if they all count it up. Once they do, we come in and get 'em back! Simple as that!" Anders explained once the group had died down a bit.

Owyn wasn't ready for the 'simple' explanation, "What, steal the coins back? That's something a Dark-type would do, not us. Besides, how do we know they'd count it up to begin with, and say it aloud. It's better to just go down to the city and ask if that's enough to go to Kalos."

The group stayed silent for a bit as the answer descended upon them. Lulu was the first to grasp it, "So…why don't you do that? It's probably the best answer we have so far." She said softly. Anders seemed thoughtful for a moment, before nodding.

"That's not a half-bad idea. It's simple enough."

And one by one, the group of Riolu decided that that 'plan' was the thing they would do. And by they, they obviously mean Owyn, as he's the only one really interested in going. They continued to sit around the fire talking and discussing 'the plan', as they called it, seeing of all the things that could go wrong.

And Owyn wasn't lying to himself, despite what the others often said. There were a lot of things that could go wrong with his plan. For one, a trainer could capture him. He had never been in a poke ball before, and he was fairly sure he never wanted to be. For the second, the receptionist could just turn him away.

He had collected a lot of change though, and he was fairly sure it was enough. Although he didn't know exactly how much it would cost to go. He also wasn't too concerned about the receptionist turning him away, as he could always just go on the boat anyways. He didn't like acting like a Dark Pokémon, but knew that sometimes their methods were necessary.

The main thing that frightened him however was that someone would try to catch him. He didn't fear battles, no he had fought far too many to be afraid to fight, what he was afraid of was capture. He liked his freedom dammit.

Of course, to even have a chance for the second he had to brave the first. Twice per day, there was a ship that sailed from the island to Canalave City. From Canalave City, it was hopefully possible to find a boat straight to Kalos. If not, he'd find a way there somehow.

But first he had to get to Canalave City. And that's why, the next day, just around dawn, Owyn found himself in the bushes waiting for the ferry to Canalave City. Around this time of year, it always came at the same time; a little after the sun came up. And it left shortly afterwards, and came back just after the sun had hit the highest point, and left right before dusk.

A small voice whispered from behind him, "So you're actually doing it huh?"

Owyn started, turning around quickly to see Anders behind him. The Riolu started chuckling softly, knowing that subtlety was their key right now. "Yeah. After all the planning last night how couldn't I?" Owyn nodded, turning back around to view the area that the ferry would dock in.

Anders came next to him, "You know, no one would think less of you to stop right now. Go back to training."

"I would. And you would too, I know it. The opportunity and idea for this comes around only a few times. The first step is the key."

"The opportunity comes around twice a day."

Owyn gave him a look at his words being read so literally. "You know what I mean. Besides, I want to know what Mega-Evolution is, don't you?"

"I do, but not badly enough to do all this." Anders grinned at him.

"Well I do. And besides, there's the boat now." Owyn pointed out. Anders had to crane his head a bit, but sure enough he saw the dramatic white wake that the ship often left behind it.

"So this is it, then. Got everything?" Anders asked, looking over at the Riolu next to him, who could barely contain his excitement.

"Yep. Got the coins, no idea how much. Where's everyone else?" Owyn asked, pulling up the small bag of coins next to him. The coins seemed to jingle happily as they were picked up.

"Still inside. Kai's asleep. They're gonna miss you, you know that." Anders said.

"And I them. Besides, I'll be back. Along with what Mega-Evolution is." Owyn said, trying to wrap the bag around him so the coins wouldn't bounce around as much. Anders grinned at him. The pair stood in silence, continuing to watch as the boat unloaded the trainers. Many of them Owyn had seen before training, some of them completely new.

Minutes passed with neither saying anything, continuing to wait for the boat to signal it was about to leave. Sure enough, within minutes later, the ferry started to let the other passengers back on, if they had stayed overnight or suddenly realized they wanted back on to Canalave City and didn't have a flying type on them.

"And that's your cue." Anders said, gently nudging Owyn forward. The Riolu grinned at him, already knowing that.

"Take care of everyone. You don't have your big guardian anymore." Owyn said, hefting the bag of coins, somehow silently.

"You? Big guardian? Ha. The Steelix do a better job of that than you do. Go and have fun Owyn. We'll miss you." Anders said, nudging Owyn forward, while taking a few steps back. The ferry wasn't far from them, and it would probably take a while before it left. But every minute gone was a minute wasted.

The path was treacherous for humans from where they were, full of sharp rocks, jagged edges, and Geodude. Owyn however knew the path by heart, nimbly bouncing around from rock to rock, avoiding the edges and the Geodude. Heck, he was even sure he saw one of them wave at him as he passed.

An odd thing for a Geodude to do, considering how much they talked. This is to say, never.

The path, which would've taken even an expert climber several hours to go up, and potentially an hour to get down unless they fell, in which it would've taken minutes, only took a few for Owyn. The path actually took him around the ferry, ending on a small platform which was only a small jump away from the bow, and the area it would take the humans the most amount of time to get to from the boarding on the back.

Owyn made the jump without missing a beat, landing gracefully near the boat's tip. The movement of the boat startled him a bit, before he learned the movement of the water and the ship. He knew now why humans sometimes get seasick. It was rather off-putting.

He had suspected he would have to wait a while before the boat got going, but to his surprise it seemed to start up shortly after he had got on. He had barely had any time to get acclimated to the ship, while looking white to the outside viewers had a bit of a dull brown rustish color on the actual topside. Owyn wondered why he had never noticed that before.

As the boat seemed to start to move forward, some of the humans had come aboard to the tip. Owyn suspected that he would have had to fight, but instead the trainers just seemed to ignore him. He still felt rather unsafe, so as more trainers got on-board he tried to find the highest point he could. He found it rather easily actually, the roof was fairly wide and would make it difficult to see him. However, none of the trainers tried to chase him, or do anything of the sort. It confused him until two of the trainers started talking with his earshot.

"What was with the jumpy Riolu?" one asked. Another of the trainers, one of the first that had Owyn had seen coming up to the front, responded.

"No one knows. It was here when I got here. I suspect it's probably some trainers and trying to find a way back. Common enough for Geodude to get stuck in Canalave City sometimes after finding their way onboard. Don't see why it couldn't happen to anything else."

Owyn shuffled the conversation aside, as something much more important to him had popped up on the Island side. A small group of Riolu, the same color as he, were waving at the boat. Some of the trainers had noticed, and wondering what was going on. But Owyn already knew.

Grinning, he started to wave back at the group of four…five…six…the number started increasing more and more. Evidently the news of the journey was already spreading far and wide of Owyn, the crazy Riolu who was attempting to go to Kalos to learn about Mega-Evolution. The sight of so many of the rare Pokémon sent many of the trainers into a scurry, trying to see what was going on. Owyn had chosen his 'hiding' spot well, as most of the trainers seemed to overlook him. Why they would get into a frenzy about so many all of a sudden when there was one right in their midst...well, he didn't know.

Owyn, with his spot near the top of the ferry, could see for the longest distance. As the island started to vanish from his sight, which took a startlingly small amount of time, he started to look forward, towards the horizon where he knew Canalave City sat, despite not being able to see it yet. He took a deep breath of the fresh sea air, now practically the only Pokémon still out on the ship. He was looking straight ahead.

Towards his future.