3:37 AM
Celadon City
South End
Lazarus made sure to remove his house key from his pocket as quietly as possible, hoping he could avoid alerting either of his parents to his extremely late arrival. The alcohol on his breath wouldn't make them nearly as mad as if he told them the truth—that he had in fact confronted Team Rocket, by himself, in the middle of the night.
They're gonna kill me…
He took a shaky breath, steadying himself before opening the door into the apartment. His stomach sank when he saw that the kitchen light was still on, meaning they weren't asleep at all. He crept into the house, turning quietly and shutting the door behind him when—
"Lazarus! Where have you been!?"
Lazarus froze, closing his eyes, still facing the door. "Uh, hey mom—"
"It's 3:30 in the morning, you haven't answered your pokell all night, and all I get from you is hey mom? Will you just look at me!" Lazarus turned around to find himself enveloped in a tight embrace from his mother, Julie. Tiny trembles betrayed her stern voice. "I'm just glad you're okay," she said, before pulling away at an arm's length to look him over.
Lazarus struggled to maintain eye contact, looking to the floor instead. "My phone was dead," he muttered, shifting his feet uncomfortably.
"All the more reason for you to have come straight home, which I know you definitely did not," Julie chided. She ran her fingers through her hair, pulling the brown locks from her eyes. Piercing blue, they mirrored Lazarus's own almost exactly. She scanned his face, checking for any sign of injury, but found him unscathed. She released a sigh, as if she had been holding her breath. "Lazarus Cyrus Pindrake, you know my anxiety goes through the roof when I can't get a hold of you and you aren't home on time! I mean, you said you would be a bit late coming home since it's your last day… but it's almost four AM!"
"I know, I'm sorry," said Lazarus, still unable to make eye contact. He was forced, though, when his mother pulled his face up to her own, searching his irises as though she could see what had happened through them herself.
After a moment, she released him, turning back toward the kitchen. "Well, you're alright," she said, sitting back at the kitchen table. A plate of food sat before her, untouched. She went to take a bite, pausing before the fork made it to her mouth and looking at Lazarus once again. "And you're almost an adult, and I know I shouldn't worry—What's that?"
"What?" Lazarus looked down, finding the briefcase in his hand as though he had forgotten it was there. "Oh, um, the scientists gave us our own briefcases to bring our research home as a parting gift." The lie came so smoothly, so quickly, it surprised him. He wasn't sure why he felt compelled to lie about the briefcase itself, but he tended to go with his gut. And right now, his gut was saying that neither of his mothers should know anything about his encounter with Team Rocket.
"Oh, that's wonderful! It looks like its good quality too." Julie took a bite of her dinner, grimaced at the temperature, and stood from the table with it. "Do you have Kara's pokeball?" she asked, sticking her bowl in the microwave and setting a timer.
"Uh, yeah, here," stuttered Lazarus, fishing around in his pockets to retrieve it. Before he had put Kara away, she had begrudgingly agreed not to breach the subject of the Team Rocket encounter with either of Lazarus's mothers until he had done so himself. He placed the minimized pokeball on the kitchen counter and yawned deeply. "Where is Halie?" he asked in mid-yawn.
"She left for the league conference this morning, remember?" The microwave beeped, and Julie pulled her bowl out, smelling it and smiling before setting it back on the kitchen table. "She wanted to be one of the first reporters there, so she got a head start today. The conference lasts all week, through Friday."
"Oh, right," said Lazarus. His other mom, Halie, was a journalist for the Celadon Post, a local news station. Years ago, she had been a gym leader in Hoenn, before moving to Celadon to settle down with Julie and Lazarus. It had taken Lazarus some time to get used to her, and to come to terms with his dad bailing on them—but that was years ago. Halie had practically raised Lazarus, and had done so as if he were her own son.
Lazarus yawned again, and Julie looked up at him, smiling fondly. "Well, you should get some rest. Just because we are both up late doesn't mean we aren't getting up early tomorrow! Your first pokemon…" She stared wistfully into space. "Professor Ulgari is going to be so excited that you're finally getting one! I mean after I told him that you were going to do some travelling for a while instead of settling down at the evolution lab…" She shook her head. "I'm yammering again, aren't I?"
Lazarus yawned in response, and they both smiled. "Well, goodnight mom," he said, turning down the hallway toward his room. He felt better, smiling to himself. Well, that could have gone worse. But, after closing the door to his room, his eyes found the briefcase once again, and his heart sank.
Out of impulse, he turned and locked the door to his room, something he almost never did. He set the briefcase down on his bed, flipping on his nightstand light. He took his pokell out of his pocket and put it on the charger, and then turned his attention to the leather box.
He sat next to it, debating for a moment, before shaking his head and clicking it open. The papers inside were all jumbled up. There were pages and pages of mixed up notes, and dozens of notebooks piled on top of each other. Gingerly, he reached into the case and picked up one of the notebooks. He began to flip through it, finding that every single page, front and back, was covered with equations and theory and experimental documentation.
Lazarus was fascinated. He began opening the other notebooks, to find the same thing scrawled in each of them. His heart beat quickly with excitement, and he kept digging through the case until he found something different. A leather bound notebook with a symbol depicting a mega evolution stone inscribed on its front. This book was different from the others, more well kept, and not nearly as messy as the ones before.
Slowly, Lazarus removed the book from the briefcase and set it on his lap. He opened the first page. Dr. Carl Weithenstock. The signature was inscribed on the first page. Lazarus flipped to the next page, which was written very clearly, much more clearly than the notes in the other notebooks:
Hyper Evolution
Mega Evolution has become a well established method of bringing out the full potential of a pokemon's power in recent years, especially since the crafting of synthetic universal keystones that allow trainers to use a single key stone with many different mega stones. I have recently come across some information that has incited me to look further into the subject, more specifically, the pokemon charizard.
It is well known that charizard is the only pokemon on record to have multiple mega evolutions. (Aside from the rumors of the legendary pokemon Mewtwo, but those remain unconfirmed.) After careful inspection of the charizardite mega stones, I have found that they contain nearly identical ingredients in their chemical composition. The main difference seems to be in the minerals themselves used to form the stone. Both stones contain the DNA of a charizard, as well as the elements levinium, carbon, oxygen, cobaltium, and trace amounts of uranium.
However, the red charizardite, or charizardite Y strain, contained specific elements that compose the gemstones ruby and quartz. And the blue charizardite, or charizardite X, contained both rubies and sapphires. As the charizardite X is the only mega stone that causes the charizard to change its type during mega evolution, I decided to investigate this further.
I began studying a collection of mega stones, travelling to different regions, but it was when I reached Hoenn that I made my breakthrough discovery with sceptilite. Sceptile too undergoes a type change in mega evolution, and to the dragon type, just as charizard does. After undergoing further study, my hypothesis was correct: sceptilite also contains significant amounts of the gemstone sapphire, along with the green gem emerald.
This has led me to believe that the mega stones of pokemon can be artificially altered to produce different effects—more desirable effects—by altering the gemstone composition in each. The reason that certain mega stones are more favorable to specific types of pokemon is currently unknown, but several of my colleagues are investigating the possibility of creating new mega stones for pokemon previously thought to not have mega evolutions. This research would be beneficial to mine, and I shall aid them with it, along with starting my own investigation into this new subject.
In this journal I will be documenting my journey after each significant event.
Weithenstock
Lazarus sat, stunned, for what felt like hours. New mega evolutions? New type combinations? It was almost too good to be true. He flipped in a couple of pages, until he found one section with hasty handwriting that seemed different from the others:
I have done it! I have successfully created a new mega stone for the pokemon blastoise. I have decided to call the creation a "hyper stone." I did it by taking the currently existing blastoisite and removing the aquamarine gemstone found within and replacing it with sapphire.
The resulting blastoise was a dragon type, as my hypothesis predicted. Shell was spiked much more than usual. Long horns grew out of the pokemon's head, and the tail was elongated as well. The pokemon had learned the moves dragon claw and dragon dance, something I had not anticipated.
Unfortunately, the transformation lasted only a few minutes, before the stone itself shattered and the blastoise reverted back to its original form. I will continue my experiments.
I received a mysterious email today from an address I did not recognize. The email said only that I am being watched. I doubt this is anything of serious concern, likely some kind of scam. The only reason I mention it here is because the signature of the email has stuck out in my mind. The email came from someone claiming to be a part of Team Rocket.
Weithenstock
Lazarus could not help himself, flipping again to another page and continuing on:
It turns out that the missing ingredient for stabilization of the hyper stones is something truly unprecedented. After researching how the original known mega stones were created, I discovered that they were all created at nearly the exact same time some 1,000 years ago in a cataclysmic meteor collision event.
In testing my new hypothesis, I did find that increasing pressure when replacing the gemstones did in fact make them more stable. More testing is required, but the blastoisite stone remained stable for three and a half hours today, instead of mere seconds like before.
The mayor of Celadon paid me a visit today. He showed great interest in my research, and surprisingly donated a significant amount of money to my cause. His only condition is that I keep my research quiet, as to avoid any public scare or outcry. I told him not to worry, as this had been my intention all along.
I received another email from "Team Rocket" just before leaving the lab today. It simply encouraged me to continue with my research, and said they couldn't wait to take it for themselves. I now wonder if I am not simply dealing with a scam artist, but a potential stalker or colleague waiting to steal my findings.
I guess I shall know soon enough.
Weithenstock
Teetering on the edge of his seat, Lazarus found himself flipping through the pages of the journal as though he were reading a best selling novel. He came soon to a particularly interesting passage:
Now that I have successfully created several different kinds of hyper stones that appear to be permanent, I have decided to push my research one step further and attempt something never before seen: I want to create a mega stone with three separate gemstones, in hopes of creating the first tri-type pokemon.
My hypothesis is that this likely will not work, however all of the experiments up until now point to the possibility of it working. I figure that I should cover all of my bases and attempt to run an experiment regardless, as I want to leave no stone unturned. It is quite likely that the stone created will be too unstable and collapse on itself, but I have received enough funding now from the mayor and several other anonymous sources that it wouldn't be a waste of necessary resources.
Today is also the first day that the emails have concerned me. After the last one, I simply responded with a defiant, clear response, in short stating that whoever what messaging me should stop harassing me, as they would never gain access to my research. They responded this morning with a folder of images. Every single image was of me coming to and leaving from the lab, spanning back what looked like months.
I am beginning to fear for my own wellbeing. I am considering fleeing the country to continue my research in peace. I hope things do not become violent.
Weithenstock
Lazarus frantically turned the page, only to find that what looked like dozens of pages had been ripped out of the notebook. A significant layer of torn sheets split the book in half, only one or two words still visible on each page. There was only one page with any legible writing left—a very short entry inscribed on its surface:
I have destroyed the most dangerous segments of the research, hopefully they will not find a way to recover it. The last remnants of those atrocities are locked safely away in my mind.
I feel their eyes on me every time I come and go. This may be the last entry I ever leave in this journal. All but one of the hyper stones I have destroyed, as I simply couldn't bring myself to dispose of the entirety of what I now consider to be my life's best work.
I am hoping to be out of Kanto by the morning. May Mew have mercy on my soul.
Lazarus sat motionless for a while, blinking and staring at the book in front of him. He shut it slowly, thoughts buzzing around in his head like beedrill. Should I tell someone about this? He could be in danger! Where is he now? Was that who Team Rocket was after tonight?
He sighed, placing the book back in the briefcase and eyeing the pokeball in the lid's zipper pouch once again. He resisted taking it out and releasing the pokemon within, no matter how badly he wanted to. He had learned his lesson about that when he was a kid years ago, when accidentally opening an onix's pokeball in a public restroom.
A yawn overtook him, and he glanced over at his pokell on his nightstand, now charged once again.
"SIX AM!"
Groaning, he flung himself back on his bed, closing the briefcase and placing it on the floor. He had to be awake in three hours, ready to see the professor and receive his pokemon. He frowned, turning over to his side and checking his pokell for notifications. Eleven texts from Wendy? Well that's going to have to wait til morning.
He set an alarm for himself, shutting off the lamp and squeezing his eyes shut, though he knew that no amount of sleep would give him the energy to deal with the morning.
Thanks for reading! I am writing this story as a warm up/practice while I work on my second novel. I find that fanfiction is a great motivator, as you get instant feedback/criticism. If you took the time to leave a review, thank you so much! If not, I still hope you enjoyed this chapter!
You can find information about my published work on my profile.