Shalour City is a moderately sized city that is known for its seaside location and amazing view. It is a popular tourist attraction. The Tower of Mastery is located at the north of Shalour City on a separate piece of land, almost like a little island on its own. The Tower of Mastery is joined to Shalour City through a sandy path and if you want to access it by foot, you have to wait for the low tide to reveal the hidden path hidden beneath the sea waters. If waiting for low tide to come is not an option, then the only other option is to swim through the waters or fly above it.
It is high tide now, so my only other option is to surf on Seis' back, my whiscash.
The Tower of Mastery is a very old and ancient building that still stands today. It is a place where people will go in order to hone and master their skills as trainers, hence the name. If you include the roof the tower itself is 41 stories high, although only the bottom ten floors are open to the public. The remaining 31 floors are strictly out of bounds unless you are a Kalosian trainer. Trainers from foreign lands can only visit the bottom ten floors.
Before entering the Tower of Mastery, one has to declare if they are visiting in the capacity as a tourist or in the capacity as a trainer. Tourists will get a blue tag that they will wear around their wrist for all to see. Trainers will get a bright red one. Why the hassle, you ask?
Because in the tower, as long as you wear a red tag, you cannot refuse any challenges sent your way by other trainers in it. It's always challengers after challengers coming at you without rest in the Tower of Mastery. There's no such thing as single battles or double battles. There are only battles. Rules don't matter here. You can choose to team up with others, you can choose to gang up on one individual or you can choose to go solo. No one really cares. The only thing people care about here is to be able to fight, to battle in order to master their skills.
This arrangement is why this place is called the Tower of Mastery. Trainers can only become masters in their fields if their skills are forged through adversity. Every single trainer comes here to train and be the very best, so refusing a challenge is not an option here, not in the Tower of Mastery.
The unique rules set in the Tower of Mastery had long since become a tradition. If a Kalosian trainer managed to climb all 41 floors through their own power in one go within a single day, they are then allowed an audience with the guru residing in the tower. In the present day, that guru is Korrina's grandfather, Gurkinn. The Tower of Mastery is always flooded with trainers, so there's no way you can take the easy way out and clear all 41 floors by choosing to clear it on a day where nobody is around. It's not that simple.
Tourists are left alone by the trainers, although it is up to the tourists themselves to make sure that they stay out of harm's way of the battles occurring within the tower. The tower had made it very clear that they are not responsible for anyone's wellbeing once they stepped foot in there due to how chaotic the ongoings within the tower are.
Given the number of battles taking place in the tower per day, I'm starting to wonder how the ancient tower hasn't collapsed yet.
Korrina had contacted her grandfather, telling him about me wanting to meet him to learn more about the secrets of Mega Evolution. The moment that he heard that I am a trainer, albeit a semi-retired one, he insisted that I have to complete all 41 floors to reach him.
Crazy.
Knowing that my team and I will be battling without rest, I have no choice but to stock up on potions and medicine and put them in my trainer bag which I haven't touched in ages. Good thing about bags in this world is that they are equipped with Foldable Space Technology. Like how a pokeball can store a creature many times its size and letting you carry them without feeling the actual weight, the bag trainers use employs the same technology. It is one of the most important inventions that revolutionised the way the world works.
Thank whichever genius out there for inventing the Foldable Space Technology. My trainer bag would be impossible to carry otherwise.
So here I am, stepping through the doors of the Tower of Mastery with Rumble, Tinen, and Vision by my side. I'm registering myself with the receptionist at the entrance and already from the corner of my eye, I can see numerous trainers leering at me and my team like some new prey.
I cannot help but roll my eyes. The things I do to search for the truth behind our land's history.
The moment I got the red tag, I can hear whoops of joy and the sound of challengers releasing their pokemon for battle.
Really? Ganging up to pick on poor old me?
I am a Ground Specialist and not only that, I am an Elite Trainer. Retired trainer or not, some things just don't go away even after my retirement, because I am a trainer that commands pokemon who can move the very earth itself. Under my tutelage, each of my pokemon are a force of nature. Taking on a huge crowd and dishing out devastating AOE moves are our specialty.
Except for Rumble. He's just here to spectate, gnaw on his chew toy, and cheer for us from the sidelines to give us some moral support.
I strode towards my challengers as I released my own team. Most of the challengers are only teenagers, kids who probably don't even realise what being a Master means. Across the world, very few trainers have the required skills and power to earn the title of Master from the Pokemon World League. I'm not one of them, I'm far from being a Master. At most I can only call myself a Specialist, but at least I know what the word 'Master' means.
If the kids here think that they can be masters simply by training here, then they are dead wrong. It's time for some good ol' spanking from an adult to wake them up.
I cracked my knuckles, making sure that the sound can be heard by these obnoxious children loud and clear. Surprisingly, the challengers standing before me and my team were courteous enough to let me warm up.
Even after so many years had passed since I last took part in my region's conference, I cannot help but feel the same fire burning within me once more. The fire that every pokemon trainer will have if they truly want to rise to the top.
I raised my arm in their direction, palm facing up before curling my fingers inwards in a taunting manner and beckoning for them to come challenge us if they dare. My team stood around me, eager for battle. We all have the same devilish grin on our faces.
"Bring it."
Maybe coming here to battle may not be such a bad thing after all.
I'll show the little kids here what mastery means.
To be a Ground Specialist is to be adaptable.
"Tinen, Bone Rush! Solid, Bulldoze!"
Tinen wields her two bones like a dual-wielding swordswoman and hacked at our opposition, clearing the way for us. Solid, my excadrill, charged through the crowd with Bulldoze as the rest of my team rained rocks from above.
Many trainers often ask me, what is the difference between Rock, Ground, and Steel types? They all look the same. They fight the same. Sometimes, they even behave in almost the same way.
I will say, ground types are the most adaptable.
"Earthquake!"
An amateur in this popular yet devastating ground type move will simply unleash a massive earthquake that hits all adjacent targets be it friend or foe. A true Ground Specialist is able to train their ground types to use this move in such a precise manner that it hits only their enemies.
Hence, even if Tinen and Solid are right there in the thick of the battle, my team's collective use of Earthquake did not hit them by mistake. Earthquake does not need to be big and devastating for it to be called Earthquake. Even a precise and smaller magnitude of such a move can do many things.
Like tripping our foes, for example. The gogoat in front of us had tripped on its face because Seis had used an Earthquake to force it to lose its balance, allowing Solid to smash it with an Iron Head to take it out.
Since this is only the fifth floor, I don't want to tire my heavy hitters just yet. They are just standing at the back right now, only providing support when needed. The higher floors are where all the stronger trainers are gathered. Right now what we are facing are just the mob characters, trainers who don't have what it takes to climb higher and survive the upper floors. The trainers at the lower floors really aren't that impressive. That's why my heavy hitters like Core, Jaws, and Berg are simply taking it easy now. Their strength will be needed later.
Someone's team did an impressive coordination and fired beams of attacks at us.
"Terra! Seis! Vision!"
The three pokemon on my team who fill up the roles of the team's defenders liquidated the floor with their ground type moves to raise an earthen wall in front of us. We have to take note not to totally liquify the ground beneath us or the tower will collapse.
The process of liquifying, shaping, and then hardening the earth is a complex process that takes a lot of practice. However, a Ground Specialist has to be able to train their pokemon to do at least that to call themselves a Ground Specialist.
You guys want to know how adaptable a Ground Specialist is? Here's how.
"Rock Blast!"
After the earthen wall blocked the attack for us, Crust immediately took control of the earth in it, solidifying it into rock, before blasting it back to our foes with Rock Blast. To defend and attack seamlessly, adapting the ground to be used for any situation is the key to being a good Ground Specialist. Anyone who mastered this aspect usually went on far in training ground types.
Rock, in essence, is just hardened earth. Steel, is just extremely hard and compact earth. Rock and steel both originate from the ground. To be a good Ground Specialist you need to understand the relation between Rock, Ground, and Steel, for in the end, they are mostly one and the same.
Harden the ground enough and they turn into rock. Harden the rock to extreme levels and it turns into steel. To be a Ground Specialist, one needs to be able to train their pokemon to do that. To be a Master, one needs to be able to do the opposite as easy as breathing.
Liquifying solid ground.
"Earth Power! Trap them in!"
A massive Frenzy Plant by Terra, my torterra, had immobilized the opposing team of pokemon, giving us a chance to liquify the ground with Earth Power and let our captured victims sink into it. Once they sunk in enough, Berg hardened the ground once more, trapping them within the floor itself.
"See ya, kiddos!" I waved the teenage trainers goodbye as I left it to them to figure out how to get their pokemon out from the floor. Only their heads and limbs are sticking out of it, the rest of their bodies are 'fused' with the concrete floor itself.
I miss the old days of being a trainer.
I'm not a Ground Master, but I'm definitely a good enough Ground Specialist. Fighting indoors, on the seas, and in the skies is the biggest disadvantage a Ground Specialist can face because there is a limited amount of earth we can use. Fighting in the Tower of Mastery doesn't allow my team to unleash their full strength, but it should be enough for us to conquer all 41 floors.
Crust greeted our challengers on the tenth floor with a Rollout, knocking them away before they could fire the first move. Crust has a rock-ground dual typing as a golem. In fact, most ground types possess a dual-typing. Interesting, right?
Like I said, ground types are adaptable.
Pokemon who solely possess the ground typing are rare. Sandshrew, diglett, cubone, phanpy, hippopotas, mudbray are the only known species whose evolutionary forms still keep the sole ground typing. Many of the other ground types had adapted to their environment throughout thousands of years, allowing them to possess a secondary typing that allows them to best survive the environment they found themselves in. The wooper species lives in the swamp, that's why they adapted themselves to be part water type. The gligar species needs to glide in the air to move from place to place because they are too defenseless on the ground despite their ground typing, that's why they eventually adapted enough to gain their flying typing. Rhyhorns are not the fastest creatures so they need something else to defend themselves. They do so by adapting themselves to grow rocky plates that serves as their defensive armour, eventually giving them the part rock typing after thousands of years.
Their proficiency in adaptation is why ground types don't really have a 'characteristic'. They are not solely good in defense like steel types. They are not solely specialised in attack power or speed to perform hit-and-run maneuvers like bug types. No, ground types are adaptable, that's why as a whole, the numerous species that make up the ground typing have a healthy range of offense, defense, and speed.
When you get them all together, you get a team that can adapt to any and all situations as long as the earth is there for us to control.
"Sand Tomb!"
Core trapped another group of pokemon that belonged to trainers that had challenged us on sight with Sand Tomb. Berg tossed a massive Mud Bomb that knocked them all out before engaging the next group of pokemon with a massive Blizzard.
"Fissure!"
Seis opened up a fissure to swallow the frozen pokemon and slammed the ground back shut, instantly knocking out all our opposition the moment Berg had frozen them with Blizzard, leaving them wide open for Seis' Fissure. We had to take special care not to accidentally kill any of the opposing pokemon with that dangerous move.
"Sail! Sandstorm! Core, go in!"
With the sandstorm working in our favour, Core's Sand Veil ability allows him to be a lot more elusive and hard to hit as he worked on taking down the largest prey. Jaws is also right in there, drawing all the aggro towards himself to protect the backliners while dishing out destructive moves.
We are already on the 30th floor.
Mantle changed the terrain further by raising pillars of rocks from the concrete floor that slammed into each and every enemy Seis had sensed with his whiskers. Most ground types are able to track their prey blind by sensing the tremors on the ground, but the whiscash species have the ability to detect even incoming earthquakes with their whiskers way before humans can pick it up with their high-tech equipment.
Seis is our walking radar. Even when out of water, he is far from helpless. If he really needs to swim, then all he needs to do is to soften the ground enough to swim in it.
Vision protected us with a Light Screen and Reflect, mitigating the incoming attacks enough for Terra to simply bodily block it for us without a scratch through the use of a Withdraw. Tinen attacked from afar with Bonemerang, her two bones hitting our targets from unexpected angles with perfect accuracy.
Core let out a loud roar as the opponent's haxorus was finally put down. He bunkered himself within a dome of stone, not wanting to get himself caught up in what comes next.
"Blizzard!"
Sail and Berg let loose the biggest snowstorm they can release, immediately freezing every other pokemon we can see and winning us the battle for this floor. Core broke out of his self-imposed prison thereafter through the rocks and ice.
Before we knew it, we had passed the thirty-seventh floor.
Jaws started the fight on the thirty-eighth floor by charging through the crowd with a Stomping Tantrum, flinging any pokemon away that cannot withstand his majestic might. Tinen rode on Jaws' back as his rider, obviously having fun as she whacked anyone within reach of her two bones. Solid shot himself forward like a spinning drill with Bulldoze, releasing tremors that shook the entire floor as he did so. Drift engaged in a fist fight with a machamp, using its ghost typing to its full advantage before allowing Sail to help it put the machamp down with an Ice Beam.
"Muddy Water! Then Thunder!"
Sail had raised herself, Mantle, and Jaws out of harm's way with Stone Edge when Seis unleashed a torrent of Muddy Water. Sail followed up with a massive discharge of Thunder straight at the waters, electrocuting every single one of our victims. The rest of my team wouldn't be affected even if they stood in the waters because they are ground types.
It would be foolish to not use my team's immunity to electric type attacks to our advantage.
The fortieth floor.
Drift met our first foe, a dragonite, with a Dynamic Punch after sneaking up on it with Phantom Force. With Drift physically restraining the dragonite, it allows Jaws to go in for the finisher with an Ice Fang. The rest of our pokemon foes immediately leapt into action after seeing how fast we brought the dragonite down.
"Wide Guard!"
Crust, Terra, and Mantle immediately put up a collective Wide Guard to shield us all from harm. The rest of the team used this time to shift the concrete floor and raise stones to trap every opposing pokemon we can see together in one big clump. At the same time, Crust rolled forward like a cannonball, glowing a bright white.
The moment Crust rolled into the rocky dome of a prison, Berg sealed the entrance shut, trapping our foes with Crust. A thundering explosion of sound later, the dome crumbled, revealing all of the fainted pokemon in it.
Explosion, a useful move to use if your pokemon is naturally suited for using such a move. It is a favourite move for golems and electrodes, because their bodies are naturally made to use such moves repeatedly in quick succession. All you need are a lot of revives to keep them going.
I fed the unconscious Crust a revive, making sure that the medicine went down her throat. She woke herself up about a minute or two later.
"Good job guys, now we have just one more floor left to clear."
Everyone cheered, including Rumble who had been watching us from the side this entire time. He had tried to sneak in some pot shots now and then. It doesn't really do much to help us because he is still so young, but it makes him happy, so I let him be.
Last floor left.
There is someone guarding a huge set of doors that lead us to the top floor, which is in actuality the roof itself. When he confirmed that I managed to clear all forty floors on my own in a few hours, he opened the door to let me in.
My team and I climbed up the stairs that lead us to the last floor. The guard had said that Gurkinn was waiting for me at the top floor.
"Welcome, young trainer, to the Tower of Mastery! My name is Gurkinn, the guru of this tower!"
An old man with the most ridiculous eyebrows ever greeted me with open arms. The amount and length of his brows is more than the hair on his head. I'm also pretty sure that he must have waxed or gelled his eyebrows, there's no other reason how it managed to defy gravity in that manner.
An aged but powerful lucario that is standing by Gurkinn's side stood forward. Gurkinn wasted no time as he immediately pointed at me with a finger.
"And without further ado, I challenge you to a one-on-one battle with your garchomp!"
Oh come on.
"Ahahaha! It's been a long time since these old bones could go all out!"
Insane. This old man is freaking insane. There's no way we could have beat him.
Not when he made his lucario undergo a freaking transformation right before our very eyes. So that is Mega Evolution? The power it gained from it is on an entirely different level! Heck, I'm starting to think that even Siebold will have trouble facing the transformed lucario because it's just that strong!
Core and I tried our best, but we are obviously no match for this old man and his lucario. Core was taken out in less than a minute, stunning all of us. Core is the strongest member of the team and while we are definitely not on the level of the likes of Siebold or Malva, there are not many trainers who could beat us so easily.
I could only recall Core back to his pokeball and muttered a thanks for his hard work. Well, we lost. What's the old man gonna do now?
Another flash of light enveloped the transformed lucario and we watched as the transformation receded, making the lucario go back to normal.
"Consider this a treat, young lady! Not many are privy to what Mega Evolution really looks like! It's a prize offered only to those who can climb up all forty floors of the Tower of Mastery. There's no way you could have won, of course, not when you have no idea what Mega Evolution truly is and what it really does! Sycamore already told me why you are here. Come here, we can have a nice long chat about what you came here to find out."
The old man led me to sit by a small table near the edge of the roof and he began to talk.
"So how was climbing all 40 floors?"
"Tough, but fun." I admitted as the old man went about leisurely pouring some tea for the both of us.
"Ever know why there are 41 floors in the Tower of Mastery, if we include the roof?"
"There's a reason for that?" I asked in genuine surprise.
"Out of the many known pokemon species, only 41 are known to be able to undergo Mega Evolution." Gurkinn explained. "Of course, there are probably more that we haven't yet found out, but currently, only 41 species of pokemon are known to be able to undergo Mega Evolution. Your garchomp is one such species of pokemon."
I nodded, already knowing about this particular piece of information.
"There are also Legendary pokemon said to be able to undergo Mega Evolution, but even I have no clue on how true that is." Gurkinn chuckled as he handed me a cup of tea, which I accepted with thanks. "This is where the history of our world regarding this phenomenon starts to contradict itself. From what I know, my ancestors were the first to discover the phenomenon of Mega Evolution and first succeeded utilising it with the lucario species. In Hoenn, there are records that Rayquaza was the first pokemon to ever undergo Mega Evolution. How true that is, I have no idea. I have little influence and authority to go snooping around for Hoenn's secrets to see how credible this piece of information is."
"Rayquaza?" I questioned in disbelief. A Legendary pokemon undergoing Mega Evolution? I vaguely remembered a little about this pokemon from my past life, but Rayquaza?
"My exact reaction as to when I first heard the same thing." Gurkinn said with a nod of his head as he began to sip on his tea, our pokemon lazing around us now that they can take a break from battling. "As I said, it's a mystery shrouded in even greater mystery. Mega Evolution as we know today needs a trainer and a pokemon to share a deep bond for it to work. In that case, if Rayquaza can indeed Mega Evolve, is it subjected to the same conditions? This is a Legendary pokemon we are talking about. They almost never show themselves. They are so powerful that their power cannot be fathomed by mortal minds. Do they even need this power? If they really need a trainer to help them achieve this power, who would these pokemon choose?"
"And Rayquaza is among the 41-"
"No. We didn't include Rayquaza among the 41 species. Legendary pokemon are different from the norm so when the Tower of Mastery was built we didn't include them in it. If you paid attention when you were climbing up the floors you should see a mural of a different species of pokemon at the entrance of each floor. The fortieth floor was a Gallade. The first floor was a Venusaur."
"I see…" I trailed off, mind still reeling a little in shock that even Legendary pokemon could possibly Mega Evolve. Once I got over the shock, I quickly asked the burning question in my mind.
"Gurkinn, you said that your ancestors were the first to discover Mega Evolution, in that case, do you know how Mega Evolution truly came about?"
"That… All I have are speculations too." Gurkinn said after a brief period of silence. "But I guess there's something I can show you."
Gurkinn stood up and gestured for me to follow him. He led me to a small room built on the roof of the Tower. There's nothing in the room but a big wall. The big wall itself is a mural. Painted on it were numerous sleeping pokemon were arranged in a weird array and formation, each of them had their back facing a stone wall placed right behind them, almost like how you see tombstones being arranged in a cemetery. What got me widening my eyes is the art style. It looks almost like-
The picture book. The one Malva gave me.
I quickly took out my Holo Caster and displayed the images I scanned from the picture book. I was right. It is the exact same art style.
I flipped the hologram images until I reached the part with the missing pages, the one that shows a barren wasteland and missing part of the narrative text. That same section of the barren wasteland could be seen on this mural.
"The pokemon that was given life must have known, that the lives of many-"
In the picture book it ends here. On the mural is the full picture that was torn out from the picture book. The missing lines of the narrative text can also be read in full on this mural. This is the full sentence.
"The pokemon that was given life must have known, that the lives of many Pokemon were taken to restore its life."
So it's true. The bedtime story coincides with the tale in the picture book. Eternal life was bestowed through the taking of other lives, even the picture book confirms this fact. Infinity Energy. Ultimate Weapon. Mega Evolution. If this Infinity Energy is tied to the same energy used in the Ultimate Weapon three thousand years ago and this is also the same energy used in Mega Evolution, then...
"You said mega stones had pokemon's DNA in them, but what about key stones?"
"Human DNA. Basically, everyone who carries a key stone with them is carrying a piece of a person's corpse. It's just not common knowledge to them."
The conversation I had with Professor Sycamore echoed in my mind. Bioenergy. Energy produced from organic matter. The meaning could not be more literal.
If what I'm thinking is true, then Mega Evolution is in essence using a form of power derived from the life force of trainers and pokemon. Even in death, the trainers and pokemon are still producing energy through their corpses that were used to fashion Key Stones and Mega Stones. With those items as a catalyst, trainers and pokemon today can invoke a greater power through the bonds they share. There obviously is a price for using this power, overusing it will kill the pokemon in question, like the example Malva shared about the scizor melting away from its own heat, the same heat produced by the scizor itself through Mega Evolution.
"the lives of many Pokemon were taken to restore its life."
If… If my speculations are correct, that sentence must have meant that many pokemon were sacrificed to produce the Infinity Energy that powered the Ultimate Weapon in order to revive the pokemon of the Kalos King. If that is the case, the Kalos King is the one who invented the process of Mega Evolution.
Mega Evolution must be a power you gain through burning the life force of you and your pokemon. No wonder Malva said there's a 5 min safety limit imposed when using it.
Question is, how did Xerneas and Yveltal fit into the equation?
"It seems that you have come to some sort of realisation on your own." Gurkinn spoke out, who had very kindly remained silent while I was lost in my thoughts.
"Mega Evolution, it is a power gained at the cost of life. The more you use it, the longer you are draining your life force. If you overuse it for too long, you die."
"Usually it's the pokemon who pays the price." Gurkinn indirectly confirmed my suspicions with those words. "But in very rare cases that are often undocumented, sometimes the trainers are the ones who do so, especially when the bond between pokemon and trainer are exceedingly strong, or at least that is what we theorise. Mega Evolution is a power gained at the cost of life, yes, but it is also a power forged from bonds. The stronger the bond, the stronger the power. There is no one way to quantify this power because the strength of your bond is not something that can be quantified, it can only be displayed."
Gurkinn walked up to me, took my hand, and pressed something into my palm.
"The Tower of Mastery serves not only as a place to guard the knowledge of Mega Evolution, it is also a place where people who proved themselves worthy of harnessing said power are granted the permission to use it. Only when one clears all obstacles to stand at the top and also understands the weight behind the power known as Mega Evolution will they be worthy of using this power. Usage of this dangerous power is heavily regulated, Nova, I cannot stress this enough. Even among the seven regions, this Tower of Mastery is the only exception where the guru of the Tower is allowed to bestow Mega Stones and Key Stones without prior approval of the PWL or a Regional League, all because of the Tower's history and significance. Do not betray the trust I've put into you, do not use this power for evil. Swear upon it, Nova."
"I've only just met you!" I exclaimed out loud and tried to push the items in my palms back to Gurkinn. "If Mega Evolution is truly as dangerous as you said, you cannot jus-"
"I can, because I'm the guru." Gurkinn patiently explained. "That's my job, to sit upon this roof and find worthy successors that can and will properly wield the powers of Mega Evolution, to pass on this knowledge to the future generation, to those who are worthy. In all my years as a guru I've only entrusted the knowledge and history of Mega Evolution to those I've deemed worthy, five times. You are the fifth successor I've recognised, Nova. We've only just met, yes, but our battle told me everything I needed to know about you. There's a reason why every guru uses a lucario to test their challengers, you cannot lie to a lucario. My lucario approves of you and that's enough for me."
Gurkinn pressed two small items into my palm and gave me a faint smile.
"Now, all that's left is for me to teach you how to properly use this power. Call out your garchomp. We will heal it up and then we can get to work."
Character and pokemon list:
Nova Labelle, Age: 26, Female, Ground Specialist, Historian, Niece of Lysandre
Pokemon on hand:
1. Mamoswine (Berg), Male
2. Golem (Crust), Female
3. Excadrill (Solid), Male
4. Golurk (Drift), Genderless
5. Garchomp (Core), Male
6. Claydol (Vision), Genderless
7. Whiscash (Seis), Male
8. Marowak (Tinen), Female
9. Torterra (Terra), Female
10. Gigalith (Mantle), Male
11. Tyrantrum (Jaws), Male
12. Aurorus (Sail), Female
13. Sandile (Rumble), Male
