OK, to begin with, I have been rewriting this chapter for almost a week now, the battle is nowhere near how I want it to be...

On another note, I'd like input, do the people reading prefer longer chapters like what I'm trying to write or one-to-two thousand word connected segments?

Just so you know, I already have part of another chapter this long left, it anyone want's me to push what I've got done, I will.

Reviews are, as always, welcome. As are questions, I'm sure I'm loosing people somewhere...

Dialog Key:

"Normal human speech"

Mental communication, link or telepathic in nature

Pokespeak

"Shall we begin?"

"One question, do you allow compound abilities?"

"If you can, don't stress if you can't."

Four abilities popped into Relvic's head, We'll try to limit ourselves to Hyper-beam, Psychic, Moonblast, and Magical Leaf, but be ready for anything

Diantha began to summon her first Pokemon. Time seemed to slow as Rain responded, We're running into this one blind

"Gardevoir, I chose you!"

Diantha's Pokemon fully materialized, Rel, around her neck...is that...

"Gardevoirite..." Relvic muttered, is gaze drifted toward Diantha's neck, around which a necklace with a multicolored gem hung. A wicked smile touched his lips as he held his hand up, "Give me a moment, if you're going to use Mega-Evolution it's only fair if we do as well."

Diantha paused for a few moments as Relvic rummaged through the bag he had slung across his shoulder. With all the sound that came from the bag she would not have been surprised if the bag held everything he owned, including a kitchen sink. His left had emerged from the bag with a black light gauntlet inlaid with a similar multicolored stone to the one within the charm hanging from her neck. A genuine smile touched her lips as she focused on the link between her and her Gardevoir.

Rain and Relvic did the same and as the bond between Relvic and Rain grew in strength the Gardevoirite inlaid within the sensory horn on Rain's right hand began to glow. A golden aura began to glow around Relvic while Rain's white and blue dress billowed into a black ball-gown, additional sensory spikes formed down Rain's back from underneath the malformed horn and where they should have been normally on her front. The horn on her right hand became a crystalline rose while the left became a loop. Time seemed to slow as their minds came close. Rain could feel the power within her explode as the mental distance to the gigantic store of psychic energy within Relvic became a non-factor. Relvic could feel well beyond himself into the ether that surrounded them, populated by specters and minds. He reached forward to probe the link between their opponents and found a wall of indomitable will and unbreakable faith.

Grim determination filtered into the air as Diantha stated clearly, "We will hold nothing back, I suggest you do the same."

Rain and Relvic immediately went on the offensive and battered their opponent with a barrage of near zero-energy Psychics to try and knock her off her feet before firing a salvo of magical leaves. Diantha's Gardevoir took the brunt of the attack without flinching before launching her own Shadow Ball barrage. Relvic focused the entirety of his mind on the defense of his partner as she began to charge for her next attack. The Champion's Pokemon only strengthened her assault until she was launching as many Shadow Ball attacks at her opponent as her frail form would allow. Relvic found his defenses overwhelmed as the number of attacks propelled toward them. Both minds instantly converged upon one goal: Redirect the offense they faced. Relvic took command of all but one focusing horn and drew the ghostly attacks all into a single point in front of their shared form as Rain began to charge Hyper-beams in a loop, reabsorbing the massive energies unleashed and preparing for a single, devastating, beam.

Diantha's Gardevoir saw the strike coming and ceased the barrage to dodge it. She had not expected the entrapped attacks to suddenly shift and take pursuit after her while the massive beam dragged along as Rain attempted to zero in on her target, arms opened wide. After a few tense seconds the redirected attacks finally overcame their target and began to hammer into her form before the charged Hyper-beam found home, imparted force kicked the championship hardened Pokemon like a rag-doll for almost the length of the arena before it used its psychic capabilities to right itself and float to the ground.

Rain barely had time to smell the air ionize around her before a Thunderbolt connected and forced its way through her body to ground. Followed by another. And another. Rain fell to her knees as an impenetrable field wrapped around her form and condensed water in the air to redirect the crackling energy away from her form. Rain recovered as a tenth and eleventh bolt grounded around her before raising her hands on high and calling forth the power of the moon, as it descended a psychic force shattered the energy into millions of psychically charged particles. Relvic reached forward and dragged their opponent in close as the moon dust condensed around her and hardened. Rain began to call forth the power of the moon once more as a Hyper-beam blasted toward the shimmering sphere far above, as the two abilities collided Relvic once more channeled Psychic and hammered the hybrid attack down upon the recovering Pokemon. The brutal attack failed to down Diantha's Gardevoir, who managed to let off one last attack before being forced to the ground by a final Psychic controlled by Relvic.

Relvic saw the Shadow Ball approach, but did not see the Psychic attack wrapped inside it. As Rain took the hit she was thrown across the underground stadium. Rain closed off her mind to force Relvic back into his body just before she hammered into the northern wall.

Relvic screamed out both vocally and psychically "Rain!"

He bolted toward Rain's limp form knowing that she was still alive, but unsure as to her exact condition. Rain's form reverted to normal and began to stir just before Relvic reached her, I'm OK, not sure about the truck though.

Relvic's mind snapped to the glowing stone concealed within the gauntlet on his left hand. He swore loudly and tore at the gauntlet as the whole assembly began to generate heat. He managed to shatter the gauntlet and kicked the now blindingly bright stone as hard as he could toward an unoccupied corner of the arena. The stone plinked twice before hitting the ground a third time with a bang as it exploded outwards with significant force for such a small object. Rain lifted her left hand and focused, allowing her to contain the small blast within a psychic barrier and direct the force downward into the ground. Multicolored shrapnel hammered into the sphere and skittered to the ground. Relvic clutched his hand but turned to Rain, "Are you OK? Does anything hurt?" Rain did not respond, she was more focused on Diantha and her Gardevoir.

They stood and simply looked at each other. Diantha nodded and recalled her Gardevoir, "I forfeit, I've seen enough to know that you are more than capable of challenging the Kalos gyms." She smiled and, after a short pause, continued, "I'll also keep my word, as I forfeited it is to be logged as a loss. I will make sure you're a citizen by the end of the day." Diantha approached, "Now...What the heck happened to that Mega-Stone?"

Relvic smiled and pulled a clear containment cylinder from the bag slung over his shoulder, "It wasn't a real Mega-Stone."

Diantha stopped dead and took several seconds to respond, "Wait...WHAT?

Relvic held the cylinder out toward her so she could see the helix-shaped floating shards, "This has been in my family for generations. We called it the Float Stone, I'd been trying to recreate it for years, thinking that I could pry some kind of anti-gravitational technology from it, until Professor Sycamore released his preliminary study on Mega-Evolution I thought I had completely failed. Then I realized that I had though would be there was something completely different." Relvic paused for a moment, "I figured out that it's actually shattered Mega-Stone. I was able to create a few replicas while attempting to replicate the force that holds the fragments in the helix pattern, most of which were destroyed while trying to figure out what I had done wrong. Three were left when Sycamore's paper was released."

"But you managed to create Mega-Stones! That's huge!"

Relvic smiled, "Yea, but no one else can use them but Rain and myself. And even then they've all exploded after she reverts back to her normal form."

Diantha beamed regardless, "Still, that's closer than anyone has ever come, even Lysandre needed a true stone!"

"Yea, but that was the last and best one. The lab that I used to create them was dismantled by the Veltrak Regional Government."

Diantha responded with enthusiasm, "So you build an new lab!"

Relvic shook his head, "I can't, some of that equipment was ancient, dating back to this Regions Great War. Other bits required exceedingly rare resources to create. I don't have the resources or capital to rebuild it."

"We should go an see Professor Sycamore! He'll be interested to hear what you learned one way or another!"

Relvic smiled weakly before turning back to Rain and offering his hand to help her up, "Can you make it?"

I'm fine, a little bruised and sore, but I'll live.

Relvic smiled and helped Rain off the ground before looking back at Diantha, "Lead the way."

The group returned to the elevator at the side of the arena and returned to the surface of the city.

While not rushing Diantha quickly led the two through the streets toward the Kalos Pokemon Institute. Rain an Relvic were easily able to maintain pace.

Rain stopped dead when a voice directed at only her spoke in a language she did not recognize, but understood perfectly, "Little one," Relvic and Diantha were still moving forward through the crowded street, "May I interest you with your fortune?" Rain looked to her left and easily identified the man sitting at a table facing the direction the group had come from. The man was unlike any other on the crowded street, clothed in what seemed to be almost casual combat gear complete with trench coat with black sunglasses concealing his eyes, careful gloved finger work shuffled a tarot deck mid-air. Rain approached cautiously, and sat in the chair that had been pushed out, beckoning for her to seat herself. "Now little one, what would you like to know?"

Rain looked at the man, unsure what he meant. She spoke gracefully in her natural language, "What does the future hold?"

The man's ghostly white face twisted into a wicked smile with a response, "Ah, yes, the future, that's usually the first thing people ask about." He pulled the deck together and placed it before Rain, "I need you to cut the deck. It will infuse the cards with your fate." Rain reached forward and fumbled with the cards for a few moments, unable to grip it with her three fingered hand. She managed to cut the deck fairly quickly despite this. The man reached forward again and shuffled the deck once again, Rain lost track of individual cards as the deck seemed to become fluid and shimmered with an otherworldly sheen. Cards began to fall from the deck seemingly without definition before landing before Rain in a pattern. After a few moments the man consolidated the remainder of the deck and placed it to the side before tapping some of the cards closest to Rain, "I see the Fool before the Lovers in the very near past, I assume that's for you and your...trainer." Rain shifted uncomfortably at the emphasized word. The man pointed at the nearest lone card to Rain, "This symbolizes you, it could symbolize an undying love...or an intrinsic knowledge of the future." He motioned to a distanced trio of cards, "This is most likely the one you love, they are likely forward thinking and driven by a powerful desire to bring happiness to those close to him...but my guess is that you are the only one that he is near, an Ill Death hovers about him, he is likely dying, or near death at every moment." The man brought attention to a single card within a complex web of cards, "The Seven of Cups tells me that there is a choice in you future, it is somewhat distant, and it has several outcomes...there will likely be four possibilities, others may be hidden from me, in confrontation of this event. He motioned at the ends of the chains, one leads the the Ill Devil, I would advise you to guide yourself as far from that future as possible, be wary, for this is the easiest future to reach. Another leads to Death. The third leads to a stagnant but stable future, but you'd have to work for it, just as much as the other would." The man remained silent for some time.

Rain began to worry, "What does that final future bring?"

The man smiled and pointed at a specific card in the chain, "The most difficult path of all leads to..." The man paused and tapped on several cards before continuing, "Sorry, the cards seem to contradict themselves...I can see great happiness, but also brief and horrible loss..." The man tapped on a trio of cards, "These seem to be the end, The Emperor, the Empress, and the Fool...I am uncertain what it could mean exactly...the Emperor usually signifies someone willing to take up responsibility, the Empress could be stability, material wealth, the achievement of goals...with the Fool it could have something to do with a new life...though that could just mean a new journey to take together..." The man sighed and chuckled, "You have a most unusual future little one, most unusual and interesting..." The man pulled the glove from his left hand and pulled two cards face down from the deck, "In return for allowing me to know your future I will show you what I am." In the brief pause that followed Rain finally felt a flicker of emotion from the man against the background noise around her, all she could tell is that it was some pure emotion without any tinges, otherwise it was completely alien to her. The man flipped the cards over to show the Hanged Man and the Devil, "Remember little one, many paths lie before you two, there are many possibilities and many disasters, I have but one piece of advise." The man raised his right hand to his face and pulled the glasses from his face as a wicked smile reveled elongated canines, Rain stared into his glowing crimson-red eyes and felt as if the man was delving into her soul, "Trust no one."

Rain felt a hand grab her right arm and pull her out of the chair and away from the man as he began to flip the cards over. She was only barely able to catch her balance as Diantha moved herself between the now rising figure and Rain. "Leave these two alone, they do not need your tainted influence Strauss!" Her normally composed voice dripping with venom.

The shaded glasses were already on the man's face as he looked toward the actor, "I'm only here to guide them into a happier life, just as I do for all mankind."

Diantha contained a fury unlike any Rain had ever felt before, "The Prophet of Profit means only to further himself, no matter how may innocent people burn!"

Relvic took his place beside Rain as the man held out his now gloved left hand with a shimmering card, "Little one, I believe you will make good use of this." Rain reached around Diantha cautiously and took the card as the man continued, "I see that my presence here has caused a great disharmony, I recommend that we both go in different directions to maintain what little peace remains."

Diantha looked around at everyone that stared at her, some genuinely terrified that the woman they admired could bring forth such rage. Diantha regained her posture and stated with a lethal tone, "You leave these two alone."

Diantha turned and continued toward the Kalos Pokemon Institute. Did he do anything to you?

Rain looked Relvic in the eyes with a disarming look, No.

Relvic turned to follow Diantha while Rain took one last look at the man. A brief flicker of indefinable emotion flicked from him as he looked at the cards meant for himself again. He quickly buried them within the deck before disappearing into the crowd. Rain turned and ran to catch up with Relvic and the still fuming Diantha.

Professor Sycamore looked between Relvic and Rain skeptically before turning back to Diantha, "Are you sure they created a Mega-Evolution with a false stone?"

Diantha nodded, "Yes, Relvic told me that he had somehow created the stone."

Sycamore laughed, "I'll believe it when I see it!"

Relvic rummaged through his bag for a few moments and pulled forth a small journal and the Float Stone, "I believe that this should answer a number of questions."

Sycamore took the journal and container from Relvic and placed the stone on a nearby surface before sitting in a chair and cracking the book open in his left hand. Several minutes passed as he continued reading the manuscript. While reading Sycamore asked, "So you weren't trying to create Mega-Stones initially?"

Relvic shook his head, "No, I didn't even know what Mega-Evolution was until you released your study."

Sycamore's face twisted in mild confusion, "Interesting, but how did you even begin to recreate them?"

"Page fifty-three."

Sycamore flipped through the pages, "...Oh...How much energy did that take to kick-start?"

Relvic chuckled, "We didn't, Rain and I worked together to force the reaction." He looked toward Rain, "If not for her none of it would have been possible..."

Sycamore looked up from the book at the Gardevoir, "Wait...wouldn't that take..." Sycamore shot up sending the chair he had been sitting in clattering to the ground, "She managed to create a Singularity? And live?"

Relvic blinked several times before answering hesitantly, "Yes...is that unusual?"

"It's impossible! It would kill her instantly!" Sycamore looked at him, "Quit lying."

Relvic looked at Rain, Are you willing to show him?

She looked back, Yes, it'll be fine.

Relvic looked back at Sycamore, "We'll show you then. Do you have an open area nearby?"

Sycamore eyeballed the two before standing and responding, "There's an indoor arena downstairs."

Diantha followed Sycamore closely as he led the group toward the field, "Why don't you believe them?"

Sycamore responded quickly, "Let me start by saying that his work on Mega-stones looks legit. It's just that Gardevoirs are killed when they create a Singularity, that's just how it works." He paused for a moment and stopped, "When a Gardevoir focuses it's energy to collapse space it has to focus it where it's power is strongest."

Diantha stopped and looked at Sycamore, "You mean as close to the horn as possible?"

"No, I mean in it. The maximum power output possible occurs at the center of the horn, it allows full power to be used and focused without loosing energy to distance."

Diantha smiled, "Then you're forgetting something. Rain has three horns."

Sycamore continued moving before responding, "Maybe, but then there's the power problem again, she has to push power beyond herself and I've never heard about a human being able to give a Pokemon power, even psychically."

Sycamore continued in silence until they arrived at the arena

Rain and Relvic stood in the middle of the room before Relvic warned, "We're going to start now." Sycamore gave them a thumbs up before triggering a camera to record. Relvic put his hand on Rain's shoulder as she raised her arms out, the two focusing horns on her wrists glowing a bright orange. Relvic could feel Rain pull a massive amount of energy from him as the space between her hands began to darken. Relvic mentally reached through Rain and used the sensory horn on her back to create a field around the forming Singularity. A tiny black boundary appeared at the center of the field that light bent around. Relvic called out, without pulling his hand from Rain's shoulder, "It's stable."

Within just a few moments Sycamore was at their side, video camera in hand, "Well...I guess I'll be eating my words then."

Relvic squeezed Rain's shoulder, Go ahead and release it.

Rain nodded just before the black dot flashed and disappeared.