Chapter 10

Doomed to Repeat It

There wasn't much else of interest in Ambrette Town, but they were delayed for a while talking to the rangers and police about Team Flare, giving statements that they could use for their investigation. Avaline realised that there might be some logic to their ridiculous outfits when the only descriptor she and Calem could think of for Team Flare was 'orange'. In particular, the grimace of the officer made her think he'd come up against this problem before.

They didn't seem to take Avaline's idea that Team Flare was interested in mega evolution all that seriously. Calem tried to emphasise that Professor Sycamore thought there might be some substance to the myth, but they seemed to think that was just the professor being eccentric.

"Hmph," Shauna said, folding her arms and scowling. "Everyone seems to think scientists are eccentric weirdos. That's not true!"

"Maybe they've met your dad," Calem said dryly.

"Daddy is just passionate about his work!"

It didn't really help their case.

The next day, they headed for Cyllage City. Calem seemed excited at the prospect of challenging another Gym, but Avaline was more distracted by her thoughts on mega evolution. Dr. Albain's notes were interesting, but she couldn't work out how they related to mega evolution. There were some descriptions of the items they'd found on this dig - the ones that were most unusual, according to Dr. Albain, were the chains and whips. The photograph made the chains look strong and heavy, and the whips made all of them cringe. In the days before the invention of pokeballs and the Centre's easy access to healing, training techniques had included some methods which would now be considered cruel, but by and large, people realised that mistreating creatures far stronger than humans would only turn out badly for them in the long run. It was unusual to find items like this at all, according to the notes.

The working theory of Dr. Albain and his colleagues seemed to be that it was a private training ground where the nobility - maybe even the royal family - used to train their strongest pokemon to obey them. It had to be somewhere out of the way, they reasoned, or they would be criticised for resorting to such extreme measures (more because it reflected badly on their abilities as a 'master' than because of concern for the pokemon in question). It also explained the high quality tools and chains that would've been expensive to make in those days; of course royalty would have the resources to afford such things.

It would've made sense to Avaline if it weren't for the mega stones. Everything they had read about them so far emphasised the supposed bond between the trainer and pokemon. Even the most basic tellings of the myth talked about it. It seemed… strange that you would find mega stones, which relied on the friendship between pokemon and human, in a place that resorted to such brutal training methods. Pokemon did get attached to trainers who treated them badly, Avaline knew, but would that be enough? She had offered the orange mega stone to Atlas for inspection, but he had just tapped it with his claws, gotten bored of it, and tried to coax Shauna's pikachu into having a battle with him. If he'd had any similar feelings to Avaline, she was sure there would have been more of a reaction. To her, that implied that the bond had to go both ways, so a trainer just exploiting their pokemon's love for them for their own advantage wouldn't be able to use mega evolution.

So… why would you need to use chains and whips against your beloved pokemon just because it was mega evolved?

It was so frustrating that they didn't have any more information. Maybe Avaline was totally wrong about the trainer needing to have genuine feelings for their pokemon. Maybe she was right but the mega stones were there for totally incidental reasons. She dutifully wrote an email to Professor Sycamore and Dr. Albain about her theories, but couldn't help feeling dissatisfied. If only she had more information!

When they reached Cyllage City, Calem suggested they compete to see who could beat the Gym first. Both of their strongest pokemon - Don and Senshi - had an advantage against the rock-type Gym Leader so it should've been a roughly equal competition. But instead of training as Calem had suggested, Avaline found herself in a bookshop.

She looked through the history and mythology section, growing increasingly disappointed. There were tons of volumes about Kalos's history - two entire shelves dedicated to the Great War alone - but relatively little about the mythology, and even less written about mega evolution. Avaline had picked up a few of the books, but most of them assumed that mega evolution didn't really exist and was some kind of metaphor or misinterpretation, so they weren't that helpful to her.

Avaline was on the verge of giving up entirely and going to train anyway when she spotted a short book about Kalos's legendary pokemon, Yveltal and Xerneas, called The Two Constants. It grabbed her attention immediately because, unlike the huge book she'd bought about the kings of Kalos, the author had clearly made some attempt to make it readable for the average person. Then she saw that in the author's introduction, he included a historic description of Yveltal: '...it came out of the darkness and brought only oblivion.'

It made her think immediately of the painting in Parfum Palace. She vaguely recalled that Xerneas and Yveltal were supposed deities representing life and death, and unlike some of the legendary pokemon in Johto, had not yet been proven to exist. It seemed strange to connect them to mega evolution. And yet… Avaline could very well believe the artist of that painting had been trying to depict a god of death. It was only 200 pages…

It's for research, so it's fine, Avaline decided.

Avaline took the book out with her when she went to train Senshi that evening. She only meant to read the introduction, but she soon found herself absorbed in the history of Kalos, underlining important sections and making notes in the margins. The author argued that Yveltal used to be seen as a more neutral figure, even sometimes benevolent, before the Great War of 3000 years ago. It was a sharp contrast to later mythology, and some of Avaline's half-remembered bedtime stories, where Yveltal was an evil god.

She wasn't sure exactly how it fit into her theory that the shadowy figure in the painting was Yveltal. She couldn't find any mention of mega evolution in the book, even after checking the index. Still, Avaline found the whole thing fascinating. She only realised how distracted she'd been when the light started to fade and she had to squint to make out the words.

Senshi, Queenie, and Brittany looked like they were having fun; Senshi was supposed to be using them for target practise to strengthen his water pulse, but it looked more like a friendly water fight. Not that Avaline was annoyed with them for playing instead when she was supposed to be the one supervising training. She sighed and told everyone they were going somewhere nice for dinner as an apology for getting distracted so badly. Tomorrow she'd leave the book at home.

It went better the next day. Pleased with the results, Avaline promised everyone they could try the Gym tomorrow. They were all delighted, even though Atlas and Queenie would only be fighting as a last resort. Atlas protested this but Avaline refused to budge and Brittany bounced on top of his head until he eventually stopped complaining. He sulked instead.

Avaline was slightly put out when she ate dinner at the Centre with Calem and Shauna, only to find that Calem already had the Gym badge and she now owed him and his pokemon lunch. It probably didn't matter overall, but she was still annoyed at herself for letting Calem win their bet because she got distracted by a book.

Cyllage City Gym was even more adventurous than Viola's. "All the Gym trainers are qualified rock-climbing instructors," the receptionist told her with a smile.

Avaline was just glad that she'd decided to wear jeans today.

The Gym trainers weren't too hard to deal with, although Avaline was surprised by the variety of rock types. In Johto, many of them had a secondary ground typing, but Kalos didn't seem so predictable. She'd fought a rock/bug pokemon called dwebble and two rock/psychic pokemon, solrock and lunatone, which she'd heard of before but never actually seen.

Finally, she reached the top of the Gym's rock-climbing tower. Leader Grant helped her out of the harness with a smile. "You made it to the top. Congratulations!"

Avaline made a weak attempt at returning the smile, but her hands hurt and she was sure her knees were going to be covered in bruises from all the times she'd banged them against the wall, which made it difficult to be cheerful. What was she expected to do at the next Gym, white water rafting?

"Kalos hasn't always been a safe and friendly place," Grant said, as though he'd sensed her consternation. "Historically, it's been important for trainers to grow together with their pokemon. That's why I made this Gym into a challenge for the trainers to surmount, too. You pokemon have to be able to rely on you, just as you rely on them."

"Oh," Avaline said. Come to think of it, even though she hadn't said as much, maybe Leader Viola's Gym had been built for that reason, too. Whilst it wasn't exactly dangerous, navigating the maze without falling was something the trainer was supposed to do by themselves. It had never occurred to her that there might be a deeper meaning. She wondered if this is what Lysandre had been referring to when he said it was the Gym Leaders who helped trainers develop their skills these days.

Avaline thought of how badly she'd gotten distracted, and lost time that was supposed to be for her pokemon's development. "You're right - I need to do better."

Grant nodded. "You're only just beginning your journey; you and your pokemon still have a lot of room to grow." He took a pokeball from his belt. "Now, let's see how you handle this challenge."

Avaline took a deep breath and tried not to show how queasy she felt. She doubted if she'd ever get used to fighting Gym battles.

She released Senshi. Grant's pokemon followed a moment later. It was a little taller than Senshi, stood on two feet with tiny forearms tucked under its body, an oversized jaw, and dark brown pebbled skin.

Avaline stared at it. She had absolutely no idea what it was. A rock type, presumably, but it didn't look like any of the rock types she was familiar with.

Senshi glanced back at her, uncertain. Avaline had to do something. If she could figure out what type it was, she could build a strategy from there. "Try a water pulse."

"Regina, use dragon dance."

The pokemon let out a surprisingly low-pitched roar and swung its head from side to side in a rhythmic fashion. Senshi's water pulse washed over it, but didn't seem to bother it all that much. Is it a dragon type? Avaline didn't know much about the dragon type at all. They were rare, and she had never met anybody who had one. What was she supposed to do now?

"Bite!" Grant called.

Regina darted forward very suddenly and clamped her enormous jaws around Senshi's arm. Senshi let out a cry, trying desperately to break free. Avaline flinched. "Use water pulse again, try to make it let go!"

Senshi tried but couldn't escape Regina's grip. Now that she was closer, Avaline thought the water pulse did more damage than the pokemon let on - it blinked a little and staggered for a moment, even if its grip didn't loosen.

"Regina, back off for now."

She dutifully let go and backed away. Avaline thought she probably hadn't bitten down as hard as she could have, but the blood coming from Senshi's arm was disturbing all the same.

Dragons, dragons. What did she know about—

Her eyes widened. Of course, the fairy type. Brittany!

"Senshi, come back."

But Senshi shook his head, balancing on the tips of his webbed feet and hands. She saw how badly he winced when he moved his arm.

Senshi… This was probably her fault. She'd explained her tactics for the Gym, that Senshi would be the main fighter. But she hadn't accounted for the wider variety of rock type pokemon in Kalos. "Trust me, please. I know what I'm doing."

He looked back at her, hesitating.

Avaline made an encouraging gesture. "I won't let anyone get hurt badly," she said, hoping she could keep that promise.

Leader Grant hadn't made any other moves yet either, so he probably thought Senshi was too injured to continue. How embarrassing for him to see her arguing with her own pokemon.

Senshi still seemed reluctant, but after a moment, he bowed his head and went back into the pokeball.

When Brittany came out, Avaline told her to be careful. She wasn't sure what 'dragon dance' was - maybe it was like 'swords dance' - but Regina seemed faster. "Stay out of her reach."

Brittany gave her a little sing-song noise of acknowledgement, but Avaline was still worried. Brittany had a tendency to forget what she was supposed to be doing when she was excited.

Grant scratched his cheek, watching Brittany float well above Regina's head. "Well."

He didn't say anything else. Avaline would've felt worse about Brittany's unfair advantage if Regina didn't look like she could easily swallow her whole. She waited a moment to see if Grant would do anything, but neither he nor Regina moved. She looked at Brittany, who was practically vibrating with excitement. "...Fairy wind?"

Brittany's body expanded as she took a deep breath. As she exhaled, the air seemed to shimmer where it caught the light. Regina tried to hop out of the way but was still caught in the wind, shaking her head as though dizzy.

So it is a rock/dragon type. Avaline let herself relax a little. Between Brittany, Atlas and Queenie, they could still win this.

"Aim high," Grant said suddenly.

Regina threw a rock into the air with her nose and then used her tail like a sports bat, whacking it in Brittany's direction.

"Watch out!"

Brittany was too busy doing a victory dance and didn't notice that she'd lose height. Avaline cursed under her breath. I should've noticed. The rock clipped Brittany and sent her flying through the air with a squeak. She landed on the floor, dazed.

"Nice shot," Grant said, as Regina charged Brittany.

Spritzee were frail; if Regina had done that much damage to Senshi, she'd be able to knock Brittany out of the fight with ease. And she was faster than her! Brittany couldn't dodge…

"Draining kiss!" Avaline called.

It wasn't a kiss so much as Brittany squashing her face against Regina when she barrelled into her. Avaline wasn't even sure at first if the attack had worked. But then Regina started to slow and sank to the floor, whilst Brittany puffed up and rose into the air again with a twirl. Avaline breathed a sigh of relief.

"Not to worry, Regina," Grant said. "I'm sure you'll win next time."

Regina still seemed despondent, slowly trailing over to Grant with her head low. Brittany flew over and kept pace with her for a bit, making the loud noises of encouragement. Regina didn't react and Brittany came over to Avaline, making a long, high-pitched trill.

Avaline wasn't sure if she was asking a question or expressing concern. "I'm sure she'll feel better soon."

That seemed to cheer Brittany up, anyway. She settled on Avaline's shoulder whilst Grant chose his next pokemon.

It didn't take long. The new pokemon stood on all fours and was nearly as tall as Avaline's shoulder. It had blue skin, large eyes, and two yellow frills on its head. Again, she had no idea what it was.

Brittany made a small squeaking noise next to her ear.

Avaline forced herself to smile as a show of confidence. "Let's try to find out what attacks it knows so I can decide who to call out next, okay? Can you do that for me?"

Brittany leapt off Avaline's shoulder with a cry, holding her arms out in a dramatic pose.

Sighing, Avaline wondered if she was ever going to take battling seriously. "I'll take that as a yes."

The strange pokemon tilted its head and made a low noise. Brittany answered in her usual excited manner, although Avaline wasn't sure exactly what she was saying. The other pokemon blinked and bobbed its head a few times.

Grant smiled and patted its head briefly. "Just be careful where you aim, Arcturus. Let's not make the field too slippery."

Arcturus turned back to look at him. Avaline imagined it had a betrayed expression. Slippery… maybe a water type, then?

Brittany gave Arcturus a moment to turn his attention to the battle and then flew over his head, preparing another fairy wind. Arcturus raised his head towards her a breathed a multicoloured beam of light. Avaline saw Brittany shudder. A few tiny ice crystals gathered on her feathers until she shook them off.

So it was an ice type. Then the multicoloured attack must be aurora beam. At least that made choosing her next pokemon easy - Atlas would get to fight after all.

Brittany wasn't done yet, though. Without waiting for Avaline to say anything, she flew low towards Arcturus, pecking at his face. Avaline assumed it was another draining kiss to recover from her injuries, but she wasn't sure how much good it would do.

It turned out that getting close to Arcturus was a mistake. Brittany was just attempting to gain distance when he slammed into her with his neck, knocking her to the ground. Again, tiny ice crystals formed on Brittany's fur. Is it using ice to strengthen its other moves? Interesting…

Brittany was already trying to get up again. "That's okay, Brittany, you've done enough," Avaline said.

She didn't seem to unhappy at having to come back, fluttering over to Avaline's shoulder. She felt icy cold against her neck.

"Do you… want to stay out and watch for a bit?"

Brittany let out a tiny squeak and tried to burrow under Avaline's hair. She looked to see if Grant was going to say anything, since having two pokemon out at the same time was technically against the rules, but he didn't seem to have any objections.

Alright, then. Atlas's turn.

Atlas, predictably, was delighted to be fighting. He sized up the situation in an instant and belched out a smokescreen until Arcturus was nearly shielded from view. Atlas turned back to her for approval.

Avaline heard Grant coughing. "You might have gone a little overboard there," she said, "but it's a good idea. It's much slower than you are, so try to dart in with fire fang and then come out again…" Atlas was moving before she'd even finished. "Just be careful where you bite him! We don't want to do serious harm!"

Brittany let out a high-pitched noise which left Avaline's ear ringing.

There was a dull roar from out of the smoke. She assumed Atlas had gotten a good hit in. Then Grant shouted, "Thunder wave!" before descending into more coughing.

Avaline froze. Paralysis? It's a rock/ice type! How does it know paralysis moves?! "Atlas! Atlas, are you okay?"

In response, there was a brief flare of fire amongst the smoke. If he'd gone back to using ember, that meant he'd probably been hit and his movement was impeded, but at least he wasn't completely paralysed. But if this went on, the chances of Atlas becoming fully paralysed increased. Queenie didn't have any kind of advantage against ice, and she was just as vulnerable to rock types as Atlas.

She crossed her fingers, hoping that Grant was nearly as unfamiliar with charmeleon as she was with Kalosian rock types. "Atlas! Try a big attack!" He should know what she meant.

According to the pokedex, the "dragon breath" that a number of fire types could use was more like a fire attack strengthened with dragon type energy. It was theorised to be a remnant of when they had a secondary dragon typing - but since they now had barely any affinity to the dragon type, it took a while to ready the attack, leaving them open, and it was difficult to increase its power, so after a certain point in their development it became basically useless.

Before they reached that point, though…

Atlas's blue flames gave the smoke a tinge of colour that was almost ethereal. Arcturus let out a screech, and Avaline saw the distinct light of aurora beam aimed wildly through the smoke. She saw the logic. It wouldn't do that much damage to Atlas but it would help to locate him. The smoke was starting to dissipate, so then Arcturus could do a more targeted rock type attack.

"Try to take it out before the smoke disappears. Don't worry about hiding now!"

Atlas himself was visible as the smoke cleared away. His muscles tensed and twitched in odd places. She winced. It must be paining him, but of course he wouldn't tell her about that, in case she switched him out. He peppered small embers at Arcturus from close range even as Arcturus pulled a rock out of the earth and threw it at Atlas. He staggered back.

Avaline's fists were clenched so tightly together that they were starting to ache. "Atlas, come ba—"

He spared a moment to glare at her before pulling his head back to spit out another fire attack. Arcturus tried to dodge it, but it caught one of his hind legs and he stumbled.

Atlas was readying another attack when Grant sighed and said, "Alright, it's over," and he had to hastily spit it at the ground instead.

It felt like another anti-climatic end, but Avaline didn't care all that much right then. She rushed over to Atlas. "There was still Queenie, you know," she scolded him. "You don't have to do it all by yourself!"

Brittany flew off Avaline's shoulder and bounced on top of his head. Atlas made a half-hearted swipe at her, which he stopped halfway through with a grimace and a whine.

She sighed and rubbed his head. "But you did well. I'll take everyone to the Pokemon Centre, and then we'll go celebrate with Calem tomorrow. Okay?"

Atlas closed his eyes and leaned a little closer. Brittany, still sat on top of his head, chirped and patted him gently with one of her fluffy arms. Avaline wasn't even sure if he felt it, but it was the thought that mattered.

They spent a few more days recovering in Cyllage City. Dr. Albain sent Avaline another email about the dig. He'd spoken with his colleagues about the mega stones and the thoughts she'd shared about there needing to be a reciprocal friendship between pokemon and trainer, and he'd come up with a theory that worked with the 'heavy duty' equipment they'd found at the site.

"Mega evolution makes pokemon dangerous?" Calem said, reading over her shoulder. He scratched his head. "I dunno…"

"I think it makes a lot of sense." Shauna had insisted Avaline forward her the email and was already reading it on her own holocaster, taking notes. "Even normal evolution can sometimes make pokemon difficult to control, so if mega evolution is as powerful as the legends suggest, it stands to reason that it might affect how pokemon behave with their trainers, too. Plus, the legends always talked about it like it was some kind of forbidden technique, which wouldn't make much sense if it was just a free power boost with no side effects."

It seemed like an unpleasant thought to Avaline. Imagine your trusted pokemon suddenly being unable to control itself. She bit her lip. "Well, I guess we forward it on to Professor Sycamore, then?"

That evening, she returned to reading The Two Constants. It still didn't have any insights to offer into mega evolution, but it went into more detail about the legends surrounding Yveltal. It was supposed to reappear every 1000 years, drain pokemon of life, and then go into hibernation again.

'According to folk tales passed down in Geosenge Town,' the book read, 'it was the duty of the Champion to meet Yveltal in battle and prevent it from taking too many lives. It's unclear who this 'Champion' is - it may simply be a generic heroic figure. How the Champion was supposed to prevent Yveltal draining the life force of other beings the stories do not say.'

Part of Schwarz's theory was that Yveltal and Xerneas were both real beings - and wasn't that a terrifying thought - and Yveltal benefited in some way from Xerneas's presence, which is why in older legends they were often seen together. He suggested that the 'Champion' had a pokemon that, to an extent, could mimic the effects of Xerneas's power, and mitigate the loss of life somehow.

That… that would explain the painting perfectly. If Xerneas was supposed to be the god of life… audino had healing abilities; that would be a related power, right? And it explained why the king looked so frightened. Against Yveltal, if the story was even partially true, he would be able to do little other than support his pokemon and hoped Yveltal did not come after them directly.

If the painting was supposed to be a warning, and not just a depiction of mythology, that meant that Yveltal really did come every thousand years.

Avaline dropped the book.

Shauna looked over, taking her in with wide eyes. "Ava? Are you okay? You've gone so pale."

Should she tell Shauna? But it might not even be true, which would just worry her for nothing. 'The number of people and pokemon who died at these events is unknown, but by the mention of mass graves, we can surmise it must be in the hundreds, sometimes even thousands,' she recalled the book saying.

No. No, best not to tell her. Not until she had more evidence.

Avaline tried to put on a brave face. "I think I'm just tired," she said. Her voice shook and Shauna didn't look convinced. "I'm just going to go to bed early."

"Are you sure? I can ask a nurse to come see you if you're not feeling well."

"No, it's not that big a deal." Avaline tried to scoop up The Two Constants quickly, so Shauna wouldn't see how badly her hands were shaking, but she dropped it again before she could place it on the bedside table. There was a loud smack as it hit the surface. Avaline winced.

"Ava…" Shauna hesitated for a moment. "You know you can talk to me if anything's bothering you, okay?"

"Yeah," Avaline said. "Yeah, I do know. Thank you, Shauna."

But I think I'd rather keep this to myself.

She spent their journey to Geosenge Town the next day making notes in her holocaster, trying to draw her jumbled thoughts into some kind of coherent theory. Maybe she should email the professor? No, that was going too far, he didn't need to hear her half-baked, panicked theories either. Maybe there would be something more concrete in Shalour City, in Frederic DuBois' diary. Professor Sycamore had originally said they should visit Geosenge Town, and The Two Constants sourced a lot of its information from folk tales originating there. Perhaps there was something…?

She pretended not to notice the worried looks Calem and Shauna exchanged over her head. If she acknowledged it, she might have to explain her behaviour.

When they arrived at Geosenge Town, it was still barely afternoon, but when Avaline said she didn't really feel up to exploring, her friends readily agreed. Shauna kept a close watch on her all day and would barely let her get out of bed; as soon as Avaline made to do something, Shauna would leap up and offer to fetch it for her, or fix Avaline's covers, or give her another pillow to prop her up.

Brittany, who was the only one of Avaline's pokemon really small enough to be out of her pokeball indoors, was concerned too. She might as well have been glued to her shoulder during the day, and when Avaline fell into a restless sleep that night, Brittany was there every time she woke up, fussing over her. She wasn't sure if Brittany slept at all.

The next morning, Avaline woke early and found it impossible to get back to sleep. She lay in bed, thinking. Her panic seemed a little like an overreaction now. Even if it was all true, there was nothing she could do about it. According to The Two Constants, Yveltal was due to appear for several hundred years. She didn't need to prove or disprove the myth today.

Besides, she noticed that Shauna also seemed to have slept badly. The circles under her eyes didn't show up quite as badly as they did on Avaline's pale face, but they were still noticeable. Avaline wasn't sure if she had accidentally woken up Shauna in the night a few times or if Shauna had been so worried about her that she also had trouble sleeping.

Either way, Avaline felt like she owed her some sort of apology. Leaving Brittany to sleep more on the bed, she got herself ready for the day. She was more sluggish than usual, and by the time she was ready, they had started serving breakfast downstairs. She ate mechanically and brought some pastries upstairs for Shauna.

Shauna was already awake when she stepped into the room. "Ava!" she said, peering at her critically. "How long have you been awake? You should go back to bed."

"I already tried; I couldn't sleep." She wasn't sure how to explain her mood, so she offered Shauna the plate of pastries instead. "I feel better today, though."

"You still look tired," Shauna said. But she smiled and started to eat.

"If you feel up to it," Avaline said, fiddling with her hands, "I thought we could try catching an eevee today? The pokedex said they're more likely to appear in the early morning when there aren't as many people around, so…"

Shauna's entire face lit up. She tried to mumble something around her pastry, gave up, and just gave Avaline the thumbs up instead.

To lessen the chance of one of them accidentally scaring an eevee away, they split up to search on Menhir Trail (Route 10). The gravestones made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and Avaline couldn't help but wonder if they were from Yveltal. But no, she'd promised herself she'd be more cheerful today, for Shauna's sake.

Avaline had expected eevees to be really rare and to spend possibly several days looking, but to her surprise, she came across one within the first hour of searching. It looked absurdly bright-eyed and playful. Avaline half worried that the eevee was actually a little younger than she thought and didn't really understand that if you came in front of a trainer without running away, the trainer would assume you wanted to be caught. But after fighting with Atlas for some time, the little eevee looked positively heartbroken when she hesitated over throwing the pokeball. Avaline didn't stand much chance against its pleading eyes, but she vowed to check with the nurse at the pokemon centre to make sure the eevee wasn't too young for battling.

She was still a little worried about being able to afford to provide for five pokemon - she might end up catching a sixth soon as the Gym Leaders would soon begin deploying more pokemon during their battles too - but with the Battle Chateau generally close at hand, she at least had a reasonable source of income. She could even hire a flying type to take her out to the Chateau if she started to run really low.

Shauna didn't answer Avaline's call, so she assumed she must still be searching. She headed back to the Centre and asked the nurses to check out the eevee. To her surprise, he was quite a bit older than he seemed. Although she hadn't thought of a name for him yet, she decided to introduce him to the rest of her pokemon.

He immediately made a beeline for Atlas, sitting at his feet and yipping excitedly. Atlas seemed unsure of what to do, looking to the rest of them for reassurance. Senshi shrugged and Brittany trilled something that had Atlas shaking his head violently.

"Don't look at me," Avaline said. "I don't even understand what he's saying."

The little eevee perked up at this. He bounded over to lick her hand… and then immediately went back to sit at Atlas's side like a loyal growlithe. At least he didn't dislike Avaline?

Eventually, Queenie made a buzzing noise. She mimed jabbing her pincers.

Atlas looked down at the tiny eevee. He appeared to be pulling the same pleading eyes trick he had used on Avaline. Atlas sat down and started to talk to him. The eevee listened attentively. The rest of them might as well have not been in the room.

Avaline watched the two of them for a few moments, feeling increasingly confused. "Queenie," she said slowly, "is Atlas telling him about battling?"

Queenie nodded.

The eevee stood up suddenly and mimed tackling someone, tripping over his own feet and falling flat on his face. He stood up again and Atlas gently corrected his stance.

Atlas has an apprentice or something, Avaline thought dazedly. Sure. Why not?

At least Senshi seemed just as confused as she was.

That evening, they all met up again for dinner. Since Calem wasn't that interested in catching anything around Geosenge Town, he'd had nothing to do but fight trainers all day.

"Are we going to be heading to Shalour soon?" he asked. He seemed calm except for the leg that he was bouncing under the table.

Shauna looked at her. Avaline hesitated. She didn't want to make Calem stay here, bored, for too long, but she still wanted to see what she could find out from the Geosenge folk tales. "Maybe we can head out tomorrow afternoon?" she said. "I still want to ask around about mega evolution."

"Oh, of course!" Calem said. "We did promise the professor we'd look into it."

But she sensed that he was still disappointed. Hopefully she wouldn't take too long tomorrow…

Avaline quickly decided that she must have been a little overzealous in her reading, because she didn't find much that she wasn't already familiar with. It was nice to hear some of the stories told by Geosenge's traditional folk tellers, despite the performances being a little exaggerated for the sake of the tourists. She always misjudged how much she was supposed to leave as a tip and either got wide eyed stares or filthy looks. She was nearly as new to Kalos as the tourists were; why did she keep getting it wrong?

Still, whilst it was interesting, it wasn't much use of her day, and Avaline could tell from Calem's odd texts that he was itching to get started on their way to Shalour City where a new Gym Badge awaited. Eventually she just told Calem to go on ahead. Shauna said that she would stay in Geosenge with her and they'd meet Calem tomorrow if necessary.

At noon, Avaline stopped to take a break. She'd been wandering around the town all day and wasn't sure if it was worth persevering. She let Queenie out of her pokeball. Queenie probably wouldn't have any advice, but she would be nice to talk to.

"I'm trying to find out about something I read in my book," she told her, "but I'm not sure if it's worth it to keep trying…"

Queenie gave her a questioning buzz, and suddenly everything came tumbling out of Avaline's mouth - Yveltal, the painting, it might be real, but then that meant…

Avaline didn't stop talking until her mouth was dry and she had to swallow. She was surprised to find tears in her eyes. "I guess I didn't do a very good job of distracting myself, after all," she said, wiping them away.

Queenie patted her shoulder, cautiously, with one of her huge stingers.

"It's not often that you see a fashionable girl like you with a beedrill," another voice said.

Avaline jumped and whirled around. There was an old woman watching them. Her hair was completely white and tied up into a messy bun, a sharp contrast to her dark, wrinkled skin.

"...Thanks?" she hazarded. She wasn't really sure what to make of her strange comment.

The old woman was studying Queenie with a soft smile on her face. "Been a while since I've seen a beedrill at all, in fact," she said. Then she turned her sharp gaze on Avaline. "I've seen you around here all day, girlie, following the storytellers, but you're no gawping tourist. What are you after?"

Avaline suspected the woman had overheard what she was saying to Queenie, anyway, but she said, "I'm researching mega evolution for Professor Sycamore. I thought someone here might know about it."

"A professor, eh?" The old woman sniffed and rubbed her nose. "Ha! Not often we get scientific folks interested in our tales." She picked up her bag and looked at Avaline expectantly. "Well? Let's go to a cafe. Buy me a coffee and I'll tell you all about it."

Even if it was just a scam to get a free coffee and some company, Avaline thought, a coffee was way less than she'd tipped those storytellers.

In the cafe, to her surprise, the old woman wanted some kind of complicated latte with extra spices, which was always a drink Avaline thought was more a 'young person' thing. It was hardly costing her a lot out of pocket, so it was no skin off her nose, and she seemed like the sort of woman who might like to mess with people's expectations.

"My name is Victoire," she said. "And your name is?"

Avaline introduced herself. "And this is Queenie," she added.

The old woman smiled at Queenie fondly. Queenie seemed interested in her hair, raising her stinger as though to poke it. "Queenie!" Avaline hissed. She came to her senses and backed away, clanging her stingers together. "She means that as—" Avaline started to say.

"As an apology," Victoire said. "I know."

She didn't seem to want to talk about Queenie any more. She confirmed the story Avaline had heard from many of the tour guides - how the king had lost his pokemon in the Great War, and, driven by grief, had built a powerful machine which could bring pokemon back to life. But when his pokemon saw what the king had done, it abandoned him, and the king instead turned the machine into a weapon, only wanting to punish anyone who had taken part in the war that had driven his pokemon away. In Geosenge, they believed that Xerneas had been used to power the machine to give life - and that the king had sought and subdued Yveltal in order to commit mass murder with it. It wasn't a popular theory, Victoire explained. The people of Kalos liked to venerate their kings, and it was unpleasant to think of one committing the greatest evil in their nation's history.

"It's unpleasant to think of anyone doing such a thing," Avaline said.

"True." Victoire sipped at her drink. "In some ways, though, it was a worse betrayal from the king. He possessed great power, which he had vowed to use only for selfless ends, in defence of his people. To use it instead for such evil was to turn his back on all his oaths." She scoffed. "No wonder his pokemon abandoned him."

Avaline was confused. "Power?"

"Mega evolution," Victoire said impatiently. "I promised to tell you about it, didn't I?"

"The king in the story could use mega evolution?"

"How else did you think he was able to force a powerful pokemon like Xerneas to become a battery for his machine? And Yveltal as well!"

Was mega evolution really that powerful? Everything she'd read in her book had lead her to believe that Xerneas and Yveltal were… well, if they weren't really gods, it wasn't an unreasonable assumption for their ancestors to have made.

"Supposedly Xerneas' rage was so great, it cursed the king to wander the earth forever and retreated from the world of humans." Victoire grew more sombre. "That's how Yveltal came to appear every thousand years as it does. It is no longer in balance with Xerneas. Since the Great War, it has been the duty of the kings, who carried on the tradition of mega evolution, to do what they can to stop it."

Avaline nodded. "That's what I thought might be the case." Her heart sank. Not that a folk tale was really confirmation, but… it seemed coincidental in the extreme that it would say the same things Avaline had worked out. And seeing the gravestones on the Menhir Trail made it that much easier to believe Yveltal really existed.

Victoire blinked at her. "You already knew?"

"Not the details," Avaline said. She explained the painting she'd seen in Parfum Palace and the connection she'd made to Yveltal, what it had said in her book.

"Oh, I remember that man," Victoire said. "He interviewed me for his book. I suppose he took at least half of the story seriously..."

"But the line of the kings has died out," Avaline said suddenly. She didn't realise that she'd said it out loud until she noticed Victoire watching her carefully. "So… when Yveltal comes back, who's going to fight it?"

"I don't know," she answered. "Mega evolution hasn't died out completely. But I don't know who might currently have the power, or if they know about Yveltal at all."

She was still scrutinising Avaline. Queenie hovered a little closer to her, until Avaline could feel the wind from her wingbeats stirring her hair.

Victoire looked unbearably sad all of a sudden. "Walk me home," she said abruptly, standing. Her coffee wasn't even close to finished.

Avaline hesitated, but then decided to follow her. She hadn't been rude at all, just a little strange. Besides, she had Queenie with her.

They walked together in silence. Victoire seemed distracted, and Avaline didn't know what to say to break the silence. But she didn't turn out to live very far away from the cafe. After a few blocks, they stopped in front of a terraced house with a tiny, excruciatingly neat front garden.

Victoire seemed to hesitate at the threshold, but eventually she took a deep breath and stood a little straighter. "Wait here for a moment."

Avaline exchanged a look with Queenie. It was hard to tell with beedrill, but she felt like Queenie was just as confused as she was.

A few minutes later, Victoire left the house again, carrying a small bundle wrapped in cloth. As she got closer to Avaline and Queenie, she unwrapped it—

A mega stone?

Queenie seemed mesmerised by it. She flew to examine it at eye level, then tapped it with her stingers, and finally touched her face to it, before jerking back like she'd been shocked.

Victoire gave it to Avaline. Like the one from Dr. Albain's dig, it felt warm to the touch. She stared at it. The colours in the centre were yellow and black.

"My brother had a beedrill," Victoire said quietly. "When she died, he left on a journey, and I never saw him again."

Avaline looked at her, unsure what to say.

"He wanted me to bury it with her," she went on, "but I couldn't bear to part with it. It was the only thing I had to remind me of the two of them." She let out a breath and closed her eyes. "But I feel like you may need it more than I do."

There was a lump in Avaline's throat. She still couldn't think of the right thing to say, but she reached over to squeeze Victoire's hand.

After the old woman said her goodbyes, Avaline wandered slowly back to the Centre. She hadn't thought that much about the Great War before, though of course she'd always known about it from her mother's stories. How could someone think to cause so much death because of their own selfish grief? How could they live with themselves afterwards? And if Victoire was right (Avaline's instincts told her she was), he had started this foul cycle with Yveltal.

What would happen if the secrets of mega evolution were lost and there was nobody to save Kalos from Yveltal? The last sighting, according to her book, had been about seven hundred years ago, which if it really did come every one thousand years, still left another three hundred years until its next appearance. Who could say what would happen before then?

When Shauna eventually came up to bed, Avaline pretended to be asleep because she couldn't muster up the energy to engage, but her mind dwelled on depressing thoughts and it was a long time before she drifted off.

Current team:
Frogadier (M) - Senshi
Beedrill (F) - Queenie
Charmeleon (M) - Atlas
Spritzee (F) - Brittany
Eevee (M)

A/N: This is the longest chapter yet. I wrote (or rewrote) over half of this last night and today. It is 3AM in my timezone. I regret everything.

Lots of lore introduced in this chapter. I'd love to hear your thoughts!