Episode 14: All that glitters

"How long will it take to get to Cyllage City?" Niko asked as he sat on his bed in the Pokémon Center. Warren was still asleep, and Charlotte had just woken up.

"Couple days probably. It's just up the coast from here," Charlotte replied, looking at her guidebook. "At least, that's how far it is by walking. We could take a boat there."

"I'd prefer to walk," Niko said, thinking about his motion sickness. "Plus, it'd be nice to train a bit more, for the both of us."

"Agreed."

Once Warren was awake, the trio went to stock up on some supplies that they might need for their journey to Cyllage City. Niko found plenty of sweets for Swirlix, some berries for Fletchinder, and whatever Chespin was feeling like that day. He just didn't know what Amaura would want.

"Probably something cold," Charlotte mentioned. "Remember, she needs to keep her body temperature low," Niko nodded, completely forgetting it. He elected to get some frozen berries for his newest—and youngest—Pokémon.

They exited the supermarket and out onto the edge of Ambrette Town, facing the beach. Just as Niko took a step towards the sandy surface, he heard someone yell his name Confused, Niko turned around and saw Wally running up to him.

"What the-?" Niko asked, tilting his head in bemusement.

"Niko! Niko!" Wally, the green-haired trainer Niko met back during his adventures in Hoenn, shouted. "Wow! It's really you!"

"It's really me," Niko replied. "Wha-what're you doing here? In Kalos, and in Ambrette Town?"

"I'm actually travelling the region to compete in the Kalos League!" Wally said excitedly. "I'm trying to be a better trainer, just like you!"

"Oh, eheh. Yeah," Niko said nervously. "Oh, Wally, meet my friends—Charlotte, and Warren. Guys, this is my friend Wally. He's from the Hoenn region."

The three exchanged greetings before the younger trainer—who had exchanged his white dress shirt for a pale blue coat with a white t-shirt underneath—looked at Niko in confusion. "Where's Brittany and JJ? They were with you last time, right?"

"They were. It's a long story, but they're kinda doing their own thing now. Where are you headed?"

"I'm actually going to Glittering Cave. Ever heard of it?" when Niko shook his head, Wally elaborated. "It's a cave just south of here, and what I've heard it's more of a labyrinth. But it has something I'm looking for, I think."

"What might that be?" Niko wondered.

"Ever heard of mega stones?" Wally asked.

"Of course I have. Wait…your Pokémon can mega evolve too?" Niko asked in shock.

"Yeah, supposedly my Gallade can. And it's rumored that the mega stone for Gallade is found there, so I walked here from Cyllage City in search of it."

"Huh, interesting. I'm actually looking to learn more about mega evolution, too. Charlotte here has already found one," Niko said, looking down at his friend. Charlotte pulled out the Tyranitarite from her bag and showed it to Wally.

"Woah…and what Pokémon evolves with this one?" he asked.

"Tyranitar," Charlotte replied plainly.

"Wow! That must be a strong Pokémon, then! I fought a tyranitar in Johto once. They're really strong!"

"I have a larvitar, actually," Charlotte said with a smirk, "so maybe one day I'll get to use this."

"You'll need a Key Stone for that," Wally said, opening his blue coat to reveal a long pendant slung around his neck, similar to Diantha's. A small white marble-like stone sat in the middle of it. "This is mine. I got it in Shalour City. Have you been there?"

"No, but we'll probably head there after going to Cyllage City for our next gym battle," Niko replied.

"Oh! You haven't battled Grant yet?" Niko and Charlotte shook their heads. "He's tough! I didn't use Gallade in that match—I wanted to use some different Pokémon—but he definitely gave me a run for my money. So did the gym leader in Shalour City—Korrina."

"Looks like we have our work cut out for us, then," Niko said.

"Hey, Niko, would you like to join me in going to Glittering Cave?" Wally asked. "I mean, if you're available to and all."

Niko looked at Charlotte and Warren, both of whom shrugged, indicating that they didn't particularly care, therefore throwing the decision to him. "Yeah, let's do it. I'd like to see what other mega stones look like, and what Gallade evolves into!"

"Great! This'll be so much fun!" Wally shouted happily. "We just have to go south to route 9, and it'll be about a half day's journey, is that okay?"

"Of course. We have enough supplies for a couple days," Niko said, shrugging his bag on his shoulders.

During their walk out of Ambrette Town Wally, Charlotte, and Warren all took some time to get to know one another. They didn't seem to have much in common besides a thrill for Pokémon battling, but they got along just fine from Niko's perspective.

"So what kind of Pokémon would you want to mega evolve, Niko? I know sceptile probably can!"

"That's what I heard, too. I don't know, I guess Venusaur. Since mega evolution requires a really strong bond, right?"

"It does. I think Gallade and I will be fine. It was my first Pokémon, thanks to you!" Wally said, turning to Warren and Charlotte, "Niko helped me catch my first ever Pokémon—Ralts, and encouraged me to become a trainer myself!"

"He just has that effect on people, I suppose," Charlotte said, looking up at her friend.

"Niko was a constant source of encouragement for me," Wally continued. "I've been competing in Pokémon Leagues ever since Hoenn! Like Johto and Kanto!"

"Those were my two first, actually," Niko said. "Then Hoenn. How'd you do in them?"

"Top 8 in both. It's hard getting to the semifinals!" Wally exclaimed.

"You're telling me," Niko said, rolling his eyes. "So you said you want to compete in the Kalos League? How many badges do you have?"

"Only two so far—from Shalour and Cyllage City. After this I plan on heading to Lumiose City. I heard they have a gym there, too."

"We tried to get in there," Niko mentioned, "but they want trainers to have at least four badges first. It seems like more of a recommendation, but probably for a good reason."

"I hear ya. Norman was the same way, remember?" Wally asked.

"Oh yeah, Norman…" Niko said, reminiscing on his days in Hoenn.

"Say, what's Jake been up to recently? I saw him heading to Johto a couple years back. He was just starting out, I think."

"Nah, he probably just finished competing in the Indigo League and wanted to start in another league after that," Niko said. "I don't really know what he's up to at this point. Probably going to some other region, now that he's finished up with Johto and Kanto."

"He's really grown up!" Wally exclaimed. "When I met him, he was small. Now he's—"

"Taller than I am, I know," Niko said in a mock frustrated tone.

The four continued their conversation until they reached a rough patch of Earth in front of them. The terrain ahead, presumably on route 9, was broken and uneven in several places, and frankly didn't look like it was traversable by humans.

"So…Wally," Niko said upon gazing at the path ahead, "how do you think we can get across here?"

"Honestly, I have no idea," Wally said, clearly unsure himself.

"Ya kids looking to get across?" an elderly-sounding voice called out to them. Niko and his friends all turned to see an old man sitting on a rock nearby, carefully watching them.

"Yeah, we're trying to get to Glittering Cave," Niko replied.

"Ah, I see," the man jumped off of the rock with surprising athleticism and landed on the ground gracefully. "Well, I'd recommend riding rhyhorn, then."

"Riding rhyhorn?" Niko repeated. The man nodded sagely. "I—I don't know how to do that."

"Neither do I," Charlotte said. Warren and Wally expressed similar sentiments.

"I will teach you, then. Name's Winston. I'm a former rhyhorn racer, back when I was your age! Yeah, and I bunch of my friends and I created this path to Glittering Cave decades ago. Figured people would appreciate it, but it looks like we made the pathway worse. So, we decided to set up a training camp nearby where travelers could learn how to ride if they so desired. You four up for it?"

"Well, we just need to get across, so whatever we need to do, I suppose," Wally said with a shrug.

"Then let's get started. It won't take too long, I figure," Winston said, leading them over to a building with a large pen to its left with rhyhorn running around inside. "That's where we keep all of our rhyhorn for transport. They're all wonderful Pokémon, truly. You'll love 'em too, I think," Winston said, taking them into the pen. There, roughly a dozen and a half rhyhorn were walking around, either playing with one another, sleeping, or simply hanging around.

"So…how do we start?" Niko asked. He had never really ridden a Pokémon before, other than Fay's Gyarados. However, that particular Pokémon knew and trusted him. These rhyhorn didn't, and so Niko believed—correctly—that the process would be different.

"Of course! So, you have to walk up to them from the front, like so," Winston said, walking up to a rhyhorn close to him. The rhyhorn, recognizing him, got lower to the ground. "See? Now, you have to grab the front of the saddle on its back, like so," he said, pointing to a handle on the front of the saddle, "and swing yourself up and over," he finished, jumping into the air and skillfully landing on top of the saddle. "Think you can do that? It isn't too difficult, just might require some practice."

The four of them nodded, with Charlotte being the only one to express any sort of reservation about the riding. Warren and Wally seemed to get a quick handle on it, managing to mount a rhyhorn on their second try. Niko got it on his fourth after struggling to jump up and over the saddle. Charlotte, being the shortest, had the most difficulty with this.

"We need to get going," Niko said, noticing Charlotte messing up. "How about this—Charlotte, you can ride with me."

"Will we both fit on a saddle?" the brunette trainer asked.

"Yes ma'am," Winston replied, "we happen to have double saddles. We'll just get one of the rhyhorn set up with one and you'll be good to go!"

"Ready?" Warren asked as Charlotte situated herself behind Niko on the saddle. They both looked over and nodded. "Great, let's head out!"

"You seemed to get this down pretty quickly, Warren," Wally mentioned as they trekked the uneven terrain of route 9. "You ever ride as a kid?"

"Nope, I guess it just came naturally to me," Warren said.

"Ever consider a job that you can use that in?" Wally asked, which surprised Niko. He knew Wally as a young kid, not as a young adult considering future employment, or really the future at all. He was growing up faster than Niko ever did. I suppose, he thought, travelling really does force you to grow up.

The group made it to Glittering Cave within roughly half an hour. They each dismounted their rhyhorn and walked up to the cave entrance, which revealed some gemstones and crystals jutting from the walls on the inside, glowing an emerald green and shiny, pale blue colors.

"Guess this is the place," Wally said, looking up at the entrance.

"Any idea of where it might be?" Warren wondered.

"Wally, send out your Gallade," Niko suggested.

"Why?" the green-haired trainer asked, turning to Niko.

"Pokémon can sense their mega stones," Niko explained, "that's how we found the Tyranitarite. Larvitar found it."

"Interesting. I didn't think of that," Wally replied with wonder. "Gallade, I choose you!" he shouted, summoning the Blade Pokémon. It took a look around before recognizing Niko and waving cheerfully. "Didn't know if Gallade remembered you. Guess so!"

"Well, it did have to battle Sceptile. That was a pretty epic battle," Niko said. "Hey, Gallade."

"So buddy, we're looking for your mega stone, remember? This is the cave it's said to be in. Niko says that you might be able to sense where it is. Can you feel it yet?"

Gallade simply shook his head before turning to Glittering Cave. He then took a step forward and, with Wally entered the cave. Looking at one another, the trio went in after them.

The cave's inside was awe-inspiring. A green, moss-like substance covered the walls, giving the tunnels a eerie green glow. Occasionally, crystals protruded out from all possible directions, illuminating any dark spots. Charlotte recognized the green substance as Luminous Moss, and defined it as something that Pokémon could actually hold in battle.

Their slow-moving tour suddenly picked up the pace when, out of nowhere, Gallade stopped, as if he heard something far off in the distance, and then broke into a run down the tunnel. "Gallade, wait!" Wally shouted before grabbing the side of his bag and running off as well. Seeing no other option, Niko and his friends did the same.

Minutes into their sprint Charlotte let out a scream, as a machop jumped out from the left side of the tunnel to attack, presumably since it was just as startled by the trio as they were of it.

"Swirlix, fairy wind!" Niko shouted, summoning the Cotton Candy Pokémon. Swirlix unleashed a sparkling gust of wind at the machop, blowing it backwards and into the side of the tunnel wall. "Thanks buddy, return," Niko said, pulling out Swirlix's pokéball while still running.

After taking several twists and turns through the tunnels, eventually the trio made it into a larger room. To the side were abandoned minecarts sitting on rails that led in and out of several different tunnels. There, in the middle of the room, they noticed Wally and Gallade standing there, looking around.

"I take it you haven't found it yet?" Niko asked.

"Don't think so. Gallade, is it here?" Wally asked. The Blade Pokémon nodded before turning to the right, opposite the minecarts. There, inside one of the protruding crystals in the wall, sat a small, foggy white marble-like object with a forest green and rose red curved strip in the center. "That's it?"

"It's inside the crystal," Niko said. Wally nodded, and asked Gallade to cut the crystal off of the wall. He obliged and, using psycho cut, sliced the crystal clean in half, letting it fall to the ground before shattering, leaving the mega stone encased in uneven, jagged crystal.

"We'll have to get this refined somehow, but here we are, Gallade," Wally said, holding the mega stone in his two hands. "Now, what do we do?" he asked, turning to Niko and his friends. All three shrugged in response. "Huh…Gallade, what do you think?"

The Blade Pokémon also shrugged, but after a minute or so he decided to touch the mega stone himself, which caused a bright light to illuminate around them, orange tendrils erupting from the Galladite. And, moments after the interaction, a new Pokémon appeared, looking similar to Gallade. Now, Wally's Pokémon looked very different. Red plates emerged on Gallade's arms, and helmet and cape-like protrusions on its head and back gave him a knightly appearance.

"Wow…" Wally said in awe, "Gallade, you look incredible!"

Gallade simply nodded before turning to an open space and using leaf blade, cutting clean through the air. Niko and his friends could feel the power of the attack, even though they were over a dozen feet away and in the opposite direction of the attack.

"Looks like Gallade will be a formidable opponent in the future," Niko said with a smirk. "I look forward to battling him."

"You do?" Wally asked excitedly.

"Of course. Maybe not right now, though, since my Pokémon aren't strong enough to compete with Gallade, much less Mega Gallade, but one day," Niko said with a smile. "We're gonna have another rematch, Wally, I promise you that."

"Thanks, Niko," Wally said, just as Gallade reverted to his previous form, and mega stone falling to the floor in the process.

The group was able to make it back to Winston's rhyhorn pen and subsequently Ambrette Town by early evening. The four of them went to the Pokémon Center to rest after the long day.

"Say, Niko," Wally asked, "want to battle me?"

"Right now?" Niko asked curiously. When Wally nodded, he smirked. "Sure."

"I won't use Gallade, but I kinda want to see what kind of Pokémon you've caught out here," Wally said, looking more interested than ambitious about defeating Niko. After they finished eating, the four trainers went out onto the practice battlefield for a one-on-one Pokémon match.

"Ready, Wally?" Niko asked, holding a pokéball in his hands. The green-haired trainer nodded. "Chespin, I choose you!"

"Helioptile, let's go!" Wally shouted, summoning a small, lizard-like Pokémon. It had a tapering tail, short legs, and small feet with three pointed toes on each foot. Its body was pale yellow, while its feet and the tip of its tail are black. The top of its head was black as well with a small triangular yellow patch between the eyes. It had two long, black-pointed frills with yellow tips hanging from the sides of its head, which can stiffen and unfold. Lastly, it had large eyes with blue irises and white pupils.

"Helioptile, the Generator Pokémon. Electric and normal type. They make their home in deserts. They can generate their energy from basking in the sun, so eating food is not a requirement," Charlotte's pokédex read.

"Helioptile, use charge!" Wally commanded. Electric sparks surrounded the Generator Pokémon, just as Niko commanded his Chespin to use rollout. "Dodge, and use thunder wave!"

Skillfully, Helioptile leapt into the air, high above the rolling Chespin and, spinning vertically, conjured a wave of electricity that struck Chespin, knocking him out of the rollout and onto the ground, paralyzed.

"Quick attack!" Wally shouted. Helioptile crashed into Chespin with blinding speed before somersaulting through the air.

This thing is stupidly fast…Niko said to himself. "Chespin, vine whip!" he called out, albeit in vain. Chespin struggled just to get back up.

"Helioptile, razor wind!" Wally shouted. The generator Pokémon conjured several light blue blades of air and threw them at Chespin, whipping up dust clouds around the Spiny Nut Pokémon. Once the dust dissipated, Niko found his Pokémon unable to battle.

"Return, Chespin," Niko said, slightly in shock. Wally got much better. "Well done, Wally."

"Thanks, Niko!" Wally exclaimed as Helioptile crawled up on his shoulder. "'I really appreciate it!"

"Well, it's well deserved. You're a great trainer," Niko added, walking up to shake his friend's—and rival's—hand. "Can't wait to meet up again."

"Always looking forward to it!" Wally said with a wide grin on his face. "And maybe next time Gallade can battle!"

"Heh, hopefully," Niko said, turning to Charlotte and Warren. "Well, we need to get to bed soon. Got a long trip ahead of us."

"Same here!" Wally said, looking at Helioptile. "Lumiose City is really far away."

"Yeah, you can say that again," Niko said, rolling his eyes again. "Anyway, catch ya later, Wally."

"Bye Niko! Bye Charlotte and Warren!" Wally said, waving to his friends as they went back into the Pokémon Center. Now, Niko found himself with three rivals in the Kalos region.