Chapter 12

To The Future

That moment of realisation and determination seemed to last for a long time. But eventually there were also practicalities to deal with.

Most surprisingly to Avaline, despite having the lucarionite (and the other mega stones in her possession), she wouldn't be able to actually use the power to mega evolve for some time, because Korrina and Arnaud had no spare key stone to give her.

"Don't worry too much," Arnaud said cheerily. "You can have mine when I'm dead!"

Korrina gave him a dark look, whether for the unhelpful advice or the off-colour joke, Avaline wasn't sure.

"Frederic talked about finding a third one..." But Avaline already had an idea who it might belong to.

"It's in use." Korrina smiled. "I believe you've already met her, in fact."

She led her to a room upstairs, where Avaline was less than surprised to see Diantha, sitting on a threadbare sofa and drinking coffee out of a mug with a chip in the rim. She still managed to look elegant. Diantha was just too perfect.

"Avaline!" she said, waving to Queenie as well. "What brings you to-"

"She knows about mega evolution," Korrina said bluntly. She near-collapsed next to Diantha and Avaline scrambled to find a chair to pull up. "Ariel gave her his lucarionite."

"Oh." Diantha regarded Korrina with a soft expression that seemed to encompass everything that Avaline had wanted to say with a mere look. She took her hand and squeezed it gently.

"It's okay," Korrina said, after a few moments. She did seem more relaxed. "Anyway, I'm still half convinced he wants to see if he can be the first pokemon to have two different listings in the Hall of Fame."

"Hall of Fame?" Avaline asked.

"When someone wins the Championship, their pokemon team also gets recorded - on a plaque in the Hall of Fame," Diantha said. "They have it all on a computer database now, too, but that's not as exciting."

"Oh, it sounds kind of similar to what we had in Johto," Avaline said. "But if Ariel was in twice, that would mean you're the…"

She stopped. A dreadful feeling of embarrassment crept over her. Korrina, Diantha, and even Ariel stared at her. Avaline's face started to flush in anticipation.

"...The Champion, yes," Korrina said.

Avaline knew what she was going to say the exact moment that Korrina opened her mouth, and she had already pulled her hat down in front of her face and let out a wail. "Why does this keep happening to me?!"

"...This keeps happening?"

Avaline just let out a small noise. By now she was curled up in a small ball on the floor, hoping that it would swallow her up if she lay there long enough. How embarrassing! At least last time she hadn't actually been in front of Diantha directly! Ugh, she could just about die of shame. She could feel something solid patting her gently on the back and assumed it was Queenie. Avaline's only response was a small noise of despair.

"Well… you only moved to Kalos recently!" She looked up to see Diantha giving her a weak smile. "So of course there would be, uh, things you didn't know."

It was a valiant attempt at comfort, but even Diantha's talents as an actress couldn't conceal the incredulous tone. Avaline seriously considered hiding under her hat forever.

Korrina cleared her throat. "...Anyway, Grandfather and I will get Avaline up to speed; I know you'll be busy with the Gym. I just wanted Avaline to know she can come to you if she has any que-"

"No, no," Diantha said. "I should stay! It'll be easier hearing from someone who's also new to mega evolution."

"Diantha." She flinched at Korrina's tone. "How many days are you behind on your Gym schedule?"

"...Three?"

"Four," Avaline corrected. "My friend Calem couldn't get in until Saturday."

"See?" Korrina shook her head. "You know it's just going to keep piling up if you go off on some other mad adventure."

"The last one was not a 'mad adventure'!" Diantha replied hotly. "I think those two fossil pokemon are really coming along now!"

Korrina considered this. "Okay," she allowed, "but what about that tour of the pokeball factory? Hm? Or the time you decided to visit every restaurant in Lumiose City in the same day?"

Avaline saw a world famous actress, Gym Leader, and sponsor of several charities, pout and cross her arms like a naughty child. "Well, there's just so much pressure coming back to that kind of backlog! It takes the fun out of battling if it happens back to back like that. Not to mention that the trainers expect a lot of commentary and I just don't have the energy to keep that up for three days straight..."

Maybe she wasn't completely perfect after all?

Korrina let out a fake cough that sounded a lot like 'four'. Diantha glared at her, but she was unapologetic. "I did tell you to take the eighth Gym spot. Not as many trainers get that far, so there would be a whole lot less work for you."

"I know," Diantha said, sighing, "but it seemed rude to take it from Wulfric. He was so kind to me when I got my badge from him, and I know how hard he's worked to be considered the strongest Gym Leader in Kalos..."

Then again, Avaline thought, she is still ninety five percent perfection, so...

"I guess I'd better join the queue," she mumbled. She wasn't sure how exactly she was going to explain all of this to Calem and Shauna. Go into the archives for ten minutes and then suddenly the secret of mega evolution is solved and she had a new lucario and maybe would be able to mega evolve when she found her own key stone? (Or when Arnaud dies! her brain chimed in rather morbidly.) But she was definitely going to miss out the part where she didn't know Korrina was the Champion. Yep.

"Why don't you hold off on making an official challenge until after you find your own key stone?" Diatha said with a smile. "It would be lovely to be able to battle you when you can use mega evolution. And it would be good practice for you, too!"

"It would be nice to be able to go all out against someone new." Korrina laughed and nudged Diantha who let out a small huff of annoyance, but from their grins, Avaline thought they were only half joking.

"You... really think I can find another key stone?" After all, they apparently hadn't discovered another one in the last a hundred and fifty years.

"I think you have a good chance," Korrina said. "We have some documents here at the Tower - notes from my many greats grandfather and some other things we've added or ruled out over the years - that should be of use to you." She shrugged. "To be honest, our main problem is that we attract to much attention - after the original Arnaud, the one in the diary, left the Tower to my great-grandmother, she became very famous-"

"She was one of the biggest trainers of her day and one of the only women!" Diantha blurted. "And she specialised in fighting type pokemon too, which weren't considered suitable for young ladies at the time! I finally managed to get Korrina and Arnaud to agree to making a biopic of her and I'm just so excited-"

Korrina cleared her throat. Diantha blushed and motioned for her to continue. "It is very exciting, but the point I'm trying to make is that since then, my family haven't really been very... inconspicuous. If we were to sponsor a dig, or to make our own investigation, it would definitely be noticed."

"Would that be such a bad thing? Does mega evolution need to be a secret?"

Korrina and Diantha shared a look. After a moment, Korrina sighed and went on. "We have considered coming clean about the whole thing. Diantha has been suggesting it for years. But… in the past people were still quite suspicious of some of the strange phenomenon that happened around pokemon. Did you know that for many years people argued that lucario was a separate, albeit related, evolutionary line to riolu, because people didn't believe that the bond between a trainer and pokemon could cause a pokemon to evolve?" Korrina's expression was solemn. "And crobat, for example, was thought to be some kind of mutant crossbreed, and trainers who were found with one could be prosecuted and have their right to train pokemon at all revoked. Prior to that, the rumours were that crobat was an unnatural, forced evolution caused by conspiring with supernatural forces."

Avaline winced. She'd heard that pokemon who evolved through their connections to their trainers were not well understood until relatively recently, of course, but she hadn't realised that it was actually seen in a negative light. "I guess that for mega evolution the reaction would've been even worse," she said aloud. She was thinking of some of the transformations that Frederic described in his diary. Even she thought it sounded outlandish and weird, and she actually knew that mega evolution was real! "But science has come on a lot now, right? I mean, we still don't completely understand pokemon, but nobody would think that mega evolution was unnatural..."

Korrina nodded. "We don't think so either, which is why Diantha's arguments keep working on us so well." Diantha beamed shamelessly. "But, even if we did tell everyone about mega evolution, I don't know that it would make that much difference - I mean, we were going to ask you to be our successor and we didn't even have a stone to give you. Mega evolution would always be very exclusive for that reason alone."

"I suppose so..." Avaline said. "Still, doesn't that mean it also wouldn't do any harm to let people know? They might not be able to do it but they would know that it was possible. It might help us understand pokemon better!"

This time, Korrina hesitated, and Diantha smoothly took up the conversation. "I understand how you feel, Avaline. But Arnaud and Korrina worry that if scientists were able to study mega evolution, they might come up with some way to reproduce it artificially. If that were to happen, it would open up the power of mega evolution to lots of trainers not necessarily responsible enough to handle it. Mega evolution is an enormous strain on the body. It has killed pokemon in the past, or left them with permanent damage. And, in a different way, it's dangerous to trainers, as well. Part of the energy for the transformation comes from the trainer, so it's not uncommon for them to faint after use, which leaves them vulnerable to attack. It's been known to trigger heart attacks. Whilst your pokemon is mega evolved, it's like an adrenaline rush. But that means you get careless."

"That's how Arnaud's mother died," Korrina said, her mouth set in a grim line. "The original Arnaud, I mean. His mother was injured during a battle, but she didn't notice because of the effects of mega evolution. She bled to death afterwards."

"Not only that, but mega evolution makes pokemon extremely dangerous. It's not just that it's a significant power boost that can be hard to control. It also alters the pokemon's mindset."

Ariel made a high-pitched whine, making Avaline jump. Queenie gave him a very careful pat on the shoulder with one of her spikes.

"How?" Avaline asked, remembering again the enormous chains and whips that Dr. Albain had found at the dig. A shiver ran up her spine.

"It affects each pokemon differently," Diantha said. "To be honest, we can't really say how every pokemon would be affected, since we know so little about which pokemon can mega evolve. But…"

Korrina gave Ariel a sad look. "For lucario, it essentially blocks their empathy. Without their trainer telling them, they won't have any regard for the other pokemon's pain, and simply won't stop fighting until their opponent is dead. " She seemed to be watching carefully for Avaline's reaction, but Avaline could only blink at her. "We know it can be more or less severe for the individual pokemon. Ferdy - that's Ariel's brother - has always been better at emotionally distancing himself from fights. He manages mega evolution better than Ariel, and can control his own reactions to an extent. I don't think he really feels bad for the opponent, but he can remember that he's not in his right mind, and act accordingly. Ariel… struggles with that, sometimes."

Ariel wouldn't meet Avaline's eye, so she took his hand instead. "Well, I won't make Ariel do it if he doesn't want to."

"No, but you should learn how to manage him in case of emergencies." Korrina sighed. "I guess the point is moot until you can discover your own key stone. Regardless, for now, we'd prefer mega evolution to be kept secret."

Avaline nodded. Poor Ariel. And the other pokemon who had suffered because of mega evolution. She liked to think that people could be responsible with the power of mega evolution, but if it was as dangerous as Korrina and Diantha said, it would only take one mistake for something extremely serious to happen. Even if they tried to set up safeguards to protect pokemon and trainers, there was no telling what would happen in the future. It reminded her of the three hundred years until Yveltal's possible return and knowing that, even if she did everything she could, it was still out of her hands. There didn't really seem to be an easy answer here, either.

"I hope we didn't scare you," Diantha said, smiling gently. "Mega evolution isn't something to be taken lightly, but with practise, you should be able to handle it. I think Pirouet quite enjoys the challenge of limiting herself."

Like she, too, had sensed Avaline's depressing train of thought, Korrina smiled and clapped her on the shoulder. "I wouldn't worry too much about it now! We still have a long time. Perhaps we can work out something between us. You never know what the future might hold."

You never know. Funny that to Avaline that seemed worrying whilst to Korrina it sounded hopeful. Maybe she was just a control freak?

...But maybe that also meant that they could find the answer better together.

"Okay, then I agree with you for now. And I guess you don't want me to tell Professor Sycamore either, because you probably would've already told him by now if you'd wanted to," Avaline said.

"That's right."

Diantha added, "I do trust Augustine personally, but..."

"No, that's okay, I understand." Avaline took a deep breath. "But I'd like to tell my friends."

She was relieved that they didn't immediately say no, although she could from the downturn of her mouth that Korrina didn't like the idea.

"It's not just me who's been investigating mega evolution. They've worked hard, too." If anything, she thought they'd done the expected amount of work, and Avaline, in retrospect, had gone totally overboard. "Even if you don't think it's right to go public with mega evolution yet, we can still study it ourselves. Maybe that will give us more information to make that decision with. I know we're still young, but Calem already knows a lot about pokemon, and Shauna wants to become a scientist like her dad. I think I could be much more effective as the 'Master' of mega evolution-" It felt wrong to use the term when she'd barely touched the surface, but that was the titled Arnaud had used. "-if I had their support."

Korrina's face softened. "When you put it like that, I guess it would be selfish of me to say no, when I've had my grandfather and Diantha to support me. Alright, you have my blessing to tell your friends."

"I'd like to meet them!" Diantha said.

"This isn't an excuse for you to skip your Gym battles, is it?"

Diantha's face fell.


Calem and Shauna were surprisingly calm about the whole thing. Well, Shauna wasn't exactly calm, but she didn't react to the parts Avaline expected her to. Mega evolution confirmed to be real? Diantha in on the secret? Ariel deciding to join Avaline? Nothing. Victoire's story about Yveltal, on the other hand…

"Oh, Ava, is this why you were so depressed?" Shauna hugged Avaline. "You should've said something!"

Calem wasn't so effusive, but he nodded firmly.

Avaline ducked her head. "Sorry."

"At least you came to your sense eventually." Calem nudged Shauna. "You should probably let go now so Avaline can breathe."

Telling her pokemon went nearly as well. There was a tense moment when Atlas walked up to Ariel, sizing him up, and she worried he might try to start a fight. But then Atlas caught sight of Johto ready to pounce on Ariel and seemed to think better of it. He snorted smoke through his nose and went to calm the little eevee down. Maybe Atlas was trying to set a good example? Avaline made sure to thank him later for being so responsible. He glowed with pride.

Korrina eventually marched Diantha to Shalour City Gym herself, despite her protests.

Calem sighed. "I bet I don't even get to skip the queue, do I?"

"I doubt it," Shauna said, "but I think Korrina would give you an autograph if you asked nicely."

He wavered, but then shook his head. "I think I'll wait until I beat her at the League. What about you, Avaline?"

In all honesty, it still hadn't really sunk in that Korrina was a legitimately famous person in Kalos. "Uh..."

"Don't think I'll let you beat me to the Championship just because of mega evolution. Not that it will make much difference, anyway, since Korrina obviously couldn't use it in a public match."

Shauna rolled her eyes. "Priorities, Calem."

Avaline had never seriously thought about battling the Champion and Elite Four, and now it seemed like it would be a bad idea to take a position so much in the public eye, like Korrina. She said as much to Calem and he frowned at her. He looked like he was about to say something when a hand clapped her on the shoulder; Avaline let out a startled squeak.

"I quite agree!" Arnaud said loudly, glancing around the room.

Shauna coughed. "Korrina went to walk Diantha back to the Gym."

"Oh." He seemed disappointed. "Well… it's a sensible approach all the same. I had high hopes that Diantha would take over my research duties, but she insisted on becoming even more famous than my granddaughter. What a pair they are."

Shauna leaned over and whispered in Avaline's ear, "Do you think Diantha and Korrina are a couple?"

"I… think so?" She supposed people would gossip if they were open about it, given how famous they were. "I don't think they want to draw more attention to themselves, though."

Shauna mimed zipping her lips shut and smiled.

Arnaud regarded them with a knowing expression. "Since Korrina left before we got to the best part, why don't I show up what I've put together from the Tower's archives?"


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


A/N: In the original draft, Korrina/Diantha was never addressed because I didn't want to spend a lot of time on minor romantic elements... but it had the total opposite effect of making it stand out more because it was so bizarre that no one even briefly thought about the fact they were a couple. So I added an explicit acknowledgment here. Anyway, people who aren't keen on shipping, don't worry, "reassuring hand squeeze" is about as romantic as it gets in this fic.