Yes, it's been a while. Yes, I'm sorry.

... Please, don't kill me.


Chapter 8: Nice place

Katila and her pokemon arrived to Geosenge Town in a couple of days.

She was slightly tense, as she had fought two Flare grunts on her way and still remember how terrible had go their encounter in the cave. This time, there hadn't been accidents and the grunts had just run away when she defeated them, but the trainer still got nervous whenever she thought about it, no matter how much her pokemon tried to comfort her. Átok was also in a bad mood, and had trouble dealing with being a Y too. And the fact that Koiryu, the gyarados, was so weird, didn't help his mood.

"I mean" he had protested last night "He is absurdly shy! A huge powerful pokemon unable to look at us in the eye for more than three seconds without braking eye contact and blushing."

"You're just embarrassed!" Miya teased him "He loves hugging you!"

"What? No!" Átok blushed, while the other pokemon laughed at him. "Katila! Do something! You are our trainer!"he asked for help. But the human just shrugged her shoulders and looked away, trying not to burst laughing as well.

But that morning she was following a Flare Member grunt and anyone was in such a good mood anymore. Team Flare meant problems, as far as things had gone; and she was decided to deal with their shit before it was too late. Preferably, without killing someone.

"Katila?"

The female trainer turned, surprised, and saw Kalm near her. She thought she had left the group behind and didn't expect to find him so soon.

"What are you doing?"

She opened her mouth to answer, but then she remembered and turn around quickly. The Flare grunt was nowhere to be seen.

"Fuck" she muttered. Then she sighted and faced Kalm again. "I found a Flare grunt and I was following him. Those guys are bad news. But I lost track of him."

Kalm seemed puzzled at first, but then realized that it had been his fault Katila had lost track of him, and apologized. However, she shook her head. She wasn't really sure she wanted to deal with Flare shit that day. Maybe she had been even lucky by losing him.

"I'll probably leave tomorrow, by the way. This place is nice, but there aren't a lot of things to do if you are a trainer. I guess I'll see you all in Shalour City?"

"Of course" Kalm smiled at her, and waved when she headed towards the pokemon centre.

"Reno, what are you doing?"

Katila turned around and saw a skating girl with a pair of lucarios. She had seen her before. What was her name? Korrina, maybe? Katila remembered her saying that she was a gym leader, but that city didn't have a gym at all.

"Oh! Haven't we met before?" It seemed that Korrina remembered her as well.

"Yes, in the route next to Luminose City." Katila answered her "And I see your lucario is still interested in my team" the fighting type pokemon was staring at her.

"I must say I'm surprised to see you here, safe and sound." he admitted "Your pokemon are not easy to control"

"I am aware of that" the trainer replied.

"What are you talking about, Reno?" Korrina asked. But the lucario shook his head.

"Nothing important right now. We will meet again at Shalour City, am I right? Also... I know this is sudden, but I'd wish to fight with one of your "special" pokemon. May we?"

Katila opened her eyes in surprise.

"I, well... I don't mind; but I guess you should ask Korrina too."

"I'm fine battling now!" the gym leader smiled "However, this is not an official gym battle and I can't give you a badge if you win."

"I understand" Katila agreed "Come on, Átok."

The braixen got out of his pokeball and evaluated the situation.

"I can't see how this is fair for him."

"Oh, come on. You never complain if you are the one with the type advantage!" Katila protested "Besides, the only ones who fulfill his requirements are Miya, Yamiora, Antalai and you. And you know I don't like taking unnecessary risks."

"All or nothing. I see." the braixen turned to the lucario "Well, if it's fine with you..."

"It is" Reno smiled... and immediately after started shouting with a screeching, metallic voice; and Átok had to close his eyes and cover his ears from the terrible noise. The lucario then run towards the braixen and hit him with Power-Up Punch. Átok had to step back, but was fast enough to concentrate his psychic powers, creating a dim light around his body. The next punch wasn't as powerful as the last one, but the fire type pokemon knew it would become even stronger. Átok tried sending the lucario away with a psycowave while he was sword dancing, and right after covered himself in flames and run towards him as fast as he could. Reno groaned when the flames burned him, and jumped high to avoid another attack. But the braixen was faster than he thought, and followed him into the air, finishing the combat with a second blow.

"Great battle!" Korrina shouted "You're going to be a tough rival at the gym. Reno, are you Ok?"

"I'm fine" the lucario answered, getting up.

"Shalour City is the next one. See you there! And take a rest, Reno" Korrina put him back inside his pokeball, smiled at Katila and left.

Then Katila's Holo Caster rang. Sycamore's smiling face popped up, asking her how the journey was going. Katila answered it was fine. Really. No, seriously. And the bulbasaur? He evolved but now she had too many pokemon and he was in the PC. But that was not what she had agreed! She was supposed to train him! But she hadn't asked for the pokemon. Sycamore sighted.

"I'm not saying he's going to be there forever. I just have other pokemon I want to train right now." She assured him.

"Fine. You said you had run into Korrine a couple of times, right? Because it seems there is someone in Shalour City who seems to know about mega evolution. You should ask her about him after the battle. "

"Got it. " then Katila looked at the entrance route and her eyes grew wider "I have to go. Bye" and hang out without waiting for a response.

In front of her, her braixen had gotten taller and his fur longer and red; and she couldn't see his legs anymore. The delphox was holding a shining white stone on his right hand and a small roggenrola on the other; and an hyperactive nidorino was jumping and staring at her, expectant.

"Hum..." Átok started "I saw a pretty stone in the next route, so I decided to get closer while you were distracted talking to the professor. Then I found Dasta," the delphox looked at the nidorino "and Ellae;" the roggenrola didn't do anything "and both of them want to go with us; they don't mind about the PC. Also I... evolved. And Ellae told me that the cave we have to go through (this is where she lives, by the way) has natural mirrors, and it's pretty and shiny but it can be really disorienting, so she has offered herself to guide us through. Is it fine?"

Katila stared at his pokemon, her brain still trying to understand everything the fire pokemon had said.

"Ok. Fine. Let's go" she replied, still perplexed.

Nothing truly interesting happened in the cave, and Katila was glad for the uneventful walk. A quiet, calm and safe journey through a cave was more than she was willing to ask for. Well, not really; but she knew that something more would be just plain unrealistic. And since her pokemon were rested that morning, she went straight to the Tower of Mastery. Trevor could be really convincing when he wanted. Or annoying, which was the same thing for her.

The Tower was certainly high, and inside she saw a huge statue of some kind of lucario. It was pretty but slightly off, with more spikes and marks and fur than it should, and she wondered if that was what a mega evolved lucario looked like. Then she noticed the door at the base of the statue.

"Well, whatever it is, I guess I'm about to find out" she mumbled, and entered.

Inside, Korrina and an old man were talking, but smiled at her when she went inside. The girl waved at her, visibly exited to see her. She hadn't expect her to arrive so soon.

"You must be Katila, then" the man said "Sycamore told me you and your friends would be coming, and it seems you are the first one arriving. I'm called the Mega Evolution Guru. That's not my real name, of course." He laughed. "Let's wait for them out."

The whole group was at the entrance, wondering if they should go through the door.

"I see all of you have arrived at last." the Mega Evolution Guru said "Professor Sycamore told me you are helping him investigating the Mega Evolution and I can help you too with it. But first, you must answer a question. What is an "evolution"? he asked them.

"An evolution is when a pokemon changes physically" Serena answered insantly " because they have fought a lot and gotten stronger or thanks to certain items."

"And happines or friendship" her brother added.

"Exactly" the man looked at them approvingly "However, Mega Evolution is a slightly different. Mega Evolution happens to pokemon we thought they couldn't evolve more, and it ends after certain amount of time."

"We still know very little about it" Korrina added then "and you need special items to Mega Evolve and a bond of trust between the trainer and the pokemon."

"I'm afraid I only have one Mega Ring for all of you, so you will have to decide who will keep it" the Mega Evolution Guru finally said.

Tierno passed then, saying that battling wasn't something he liked that much. Trevor, Shauna and Kalm passed too. Katila thought that she wouldn't exactly care about the Mega Evolution, but she was feeling rather exited of the possibility Yamiora turning into something like the statue. And he was supposed to be more powerful, even. That wasn't bad at all. How many of her pokemon would be able to Mega Evolve?

"Shall we fight for the Megaring?" Serena asked Katila.

The brown haired girl stared back, remembering their last fight. "Are you sure?"

Serena nodded, not feeling any resentment at all. "I'm doing this for my pokémon." And then she sent out a female meowistic. Katila, after thinking about it, sent out Koiryu. But the meowistic attacked him with fake out, jumping and hitting him in the face before he could even move; and the gyarados went backwards. The psychic pokemon attacked again with charge beam, sending electricity to the water/flying one. He roared in pain, but when it stopped, Koiryu throw himself towards the white pokemon, biting with all his strength, enraged. The meowistic was knocked out in a matter of seconds with a yell, and before Katila could tell him that it had been enough, the gyarados spit his rival, which was weak, but alive; and certainly not in mortal danger.

Serena then sent out a dedenne, and Katila decided to change the gyarados and put Hana to battle. The floette started the fight with petal blizzard, but it didn't hurt much the electric pokémon. He counterattacked with nuzzle, sending an electrical attack wave through her body didn't hurt much, but made her more difficult to move. Hana closed her eyes and shine lightly for a second, but nothing else seemed to happen, and the dedenne attacked her again. Then she realized that she was unable to move, and couldn't avoid another nuzzle. Katila was starting to wonder if she should change pokemon when Hana suddenly throw tons of colorful leaves towards the small electric pokemon. The dedenne was defeated by the magical leaves, and then Hana's wish came true, healing some of her wounds. Serena sent out the silent frogadier.

"I can keep fighting" the floette assured her trainer.

"I thought you didn't like battling"

"I don't, but I know I have to. I'm the only one that has advantage against Kaeru" she replied.

When Hana finished talking, the frogadier run towards her so fast she couldn't avoid the attack. Confused and a little scared, she sent magical leaves everywehere to make sure he wouldn't be able to escape the attack. It worked, but Kaeru was able to hit her again with another quick attack before being knocked down by the sharp leaves.

Serena sighted while returning Kaeru to his pokeball. "I lost again... You're really strong."

"You gave me a lot of trouble with that dedenne" Katila replied "It was a good battle."

"Good work, both of you" the Mega Evolution Guru said "However, before I give you the Megaring you have to show your strength in the gym and battle Korrina."

Katila was just about to complain, but then she remembered she had a fully evolved delphox with psychic attacks and the gym was a fighting type one. She shrugged.

It was going to be easy.