The next morning, in Kalos, Ash was in Kalos.

He'd left his house in Pallet Town about five minutes ago and it had been morning then too, but Arc had told him there was nothing to worry about there and so Ash had decided not to worry about it.

"Right, and… this way, right?" he checked, looking down at the map Arc was showing, then back up at the skyline. "Lumiose City looks nice!"

"Yeah, either Kalos is starting us off with one of the nicest cities here, or Kalos is just really amazingly nice," Pikachu agreed, ears flicking. "There's some interesting Pokémon around, too."

"Right?" Ash said. "And, uh… okay, this way next?"

He glanced down. "Let me know if I'm making too big a mistake, okay, Marshadow? Absol?"

"I will do my best," Marshadow said.

"I mean, let's be honest, Ash, I can barely tell you getting lost as a disaster," Absol said. "Your baseline luck is just that weird. You'd end up stumbling into a situation where you save someone's life and that wouldn't even register… but I'll see if I spot something."

"Thanks," Ash told them, then turned the next corner. "And… it should be… there!"

He looked up.

"What do you think?" he asked Pikachu. "This building doesn't look all that different…"

Pikachu used Surf, then Fly, and zipped up to roof level.

"Well, there's a giant greenhouse at the back," he said. "So that's probably a good sign."

"Thanks," Ash told him, and knocked on the door.

After about half a minute, a man in a quite fashionable combination of lab coat and purple shirt opened the door.

"Ah, you must be Ash Ketchum!" he said. "And… my word! Is that a new Pokémon?"

"I am not," Zygarde stated. "I am an old Pokémon."

"Zygarde's not a new Pokémon, they're an old Pokémon," Ash translated. "They're just along because they're getting a lift home. The Mega Evolution stuff involves other Pokémon, I've got some of them with me and others I'll bring in later. Is that okay?"

"Well, of course!" Professor Sycamore said. "I have to say, I'm excited to see what you've got for me!"

"I could contribute," Zygarde volunteered. "Transitioning from Core to ten-percent to fifty-percent is not Mega Evolution but it is related."

"Oh, yeah, that's a good point," Ash concurred. "Wait, hold on… this is going to be easier if Lokoko is out."

He sent out the Fire-type with a white flash as Professor Sycamore stepped back to let them inside, and Lokoko reached out a tail to twine it gently around Absol's tailblade.

"Does this qualify as a Lumiose City break?" she asked. "Because I think we'd like to enjoy the city for a little while, Ash."

"Sure!" Ash agreed. "I guess you can book a Hoopa-hole back home when you're done?"

"How convenient," Absol said, smiling, and nuzzling Lokoko for a moment. "And yes, I'd love to."

Professor Sycamore looked a bit embarrassed. "How am I understanding what those Pokémon are saying?"

"Lokoko is using a kind of Hypnosis to translate Pokémon speech for humans who don't understand it," Pikachu provided. "Absol doesn't need translation, though, she can just talk so humans understand her. It was something to do with working at a cafe, I think."

Sycamore didn't appear to be very enlightened.

"Oh – so, shall we get started with the experiments and stuff?" Ash asked. "We've got, uh… I've got a Charizard, a Meganium, a Typhlosion, a Latios, a Latias and a Gigalith who Mega-Evolve the normal way, I guess it could be interesting to see how much Mega Latias and Mega Latios differ. Then my Pidgey can Pidgeyvolve, and my Rayquaza has a really neat trick where she can do primal reversion as Groudon and Kyogre as well as Mega-Evolve without a Mega Stone."

He kept counting the list off. "Dewott can do something that's a lot like Mega Evolving where he turns into a Samurott, I don't know if you're counting that, and Keldeo and Marshadow both have ways to power up which aren't really very big changes. Zacian's got a bigger change she can do… then Zygarde can transition between different forms? That might count too, it depends, I'm not the expert on what people already know about scientifically."

Frowning, Ash checked the list he'd written on Arc's notes app. "Right! And Shaymintwo can go into Sky Forme, while I want to see what happens if Starly uses a Lucarionite because I haven't had a chance to yet and he's been studying with a Lucario for more than a year now. And then there's two Mega Absols to show you, one of them's me and the other is Absol there because that one involves Lokoko being the one with the Mega Ring. She's the Ninetales, in case Pikachu didn't make that clear?"

Professor Sycamore looked like someone had hit him very hard with a shovel.

"I… think that should keep us busy, yes?" he replied, doing his best to rally.

"Oh!" Ash realized. "And I think if you give Phanpy a few minutes she can find a new Mega Stone. Is there one you're interested in seeing? I think she does commissions."

He snapped his fingers. "Right! I almost forgot this one, too, there was a Mewtwo I met who could Mega Evolve without a Mega Stone or Key Stone as well, but apparently that's not because of Rayquaza DNA because the scientists didn't use any… any ideas? You're the expert!"

"I thought that five minutes ago, yes," Professor Sycamore said, blinking several times.

Most of an hour and a half later, Professor Sycamore finally sank back into his chair.

"That's… well, I don't know what to say," he admitted. "It's certainly resulted in several important scientific discoveries or advancements, either now or when you first did that… I'm not sure how to count things like that, I have to admit."

He sighed. "We might actually be able to discover some of the secrets of Mega Evolution."

"Like what?" Ash asked.

"Well… what Infinity Energy actually is," Professor Sycamore said. "Or where Mega Stones come from."

"Oh, I know that second one already!" Ash replied. "It's Diancie! She's a Legendary Pokémon with domain over gemstones, and gemstones includes Mega Stones, so she makes them. Is that a big mystery?"

"It was," Professor Sycamore said. "I'm… honestly not sure how to react to that."

He rubbed his temples, then rallied. "All right, I'm very grateful for your help, Ash, just… I think I'm going to need some time to assimilate all of this."

"That's fine," Ash told him. "Oh – Lokoko, Absol, I think we're done for now so you can go and enjoy yourselves!"

"Thank you, Ash," Lokoko smiled, tails flicking out to open the door for Absol. "We'll try not to stay out too late… by someone's clock, anyway."

"Now… where's the Lumiose Gym?" Ash added. "I kind of want to see what Kalosian Pokémon training is like!"

"Hold on a moment, please," a Froakie said, jumping down from the ceiling.

He pointed at Ash. "What's your opinion on Pokémon who change their mind about travelling with you?"

"I'd let them go wherever they wanted," Ash replied. "I'd help set them up with a new trainer if they wanted one, or let them go otherwise… that's actually where Charizard was for a while, he's got a new girlfriend but unlike Lokoko's girlfriend she's got a trainer herself and lives somewhere specific. So he usually lives there."

"Second question," Froakie went on. "Can you handle training a ninja?"

"I've trained a few Pokémon who are ninja," Ash said. "But more importantly I have Pokémon who are ninja who can help train other ninja… I guess it depends what kind of ninja."

"Hold on," Professor Sycamore said, leaning forwards a bit. "Froakie? Did you come back again? What happened to that trainer… Marc, I think?"

"He wasn't for me," Froakie shrugged. "What I want is to be pushed to the limit! To really break through what most Pokémon can achieve!"

"Wow, thirty seconds after the Ninetales walked through the door and I already miss being able to understand what Pokémon say," Professor Sycamore said quietly.

"And, well, honestly when your Pikachu flew around the building earlier I'd already decided I was interested," Froakie went on. "So consider me to be officially volunteering."

"Is that okay?" Ash checked. "Froakie's interested in giving being my Pokémon a go, and if it doesn't work out I can sort out making sure he gets to go where he wants. How does that sound?"

"I feel like I can't really stop you, even if I wanted to," Professor Sycamore said. "And I don't want to, because it sounds like it'll be good for Froakie… so go ahead, I think. Only… what happened to Froakie's Pokéball?"

"If you didn't break it on the way out, I can sort that out!" said Mew, who turned out to have been one of the Gracidea plants Ash had brought from Kanto. "And by the way, I need to work out how to hang around Ash for Kalos, but that's for later. I'm a programming expert!"

"How did you do that one?" Ash asked, interested. "I thought you mostly did Pokémon."

"Yeah, I did a Zorua," Mew explained, waving his paw. "Anyway, if your Pokéball situation needs adjustment, just say the word!"

"What's the word?" Froakie checked.

"Hmm," Mew frowned. "Good question. Bah weep granah wheep ni ni bong? No, that's seven words… we'll work it out."

In Hoenn, Lucy raised herself off her towel on one arm.

"So, just to make sure I understand this?" she began. "The part of this whole thing where you get to lie around on a sunny beach in Hoenn… that's not the only reason why you're an amateur geologist?"

"That's right!" Brock agreed. "The whole thing is fascinating, really!"

He shrugged a little. "I know that that's not the way everyone thinks, and I'm not going to try and convince you that really everyone should be interested. But it interests me, and that's why I do it."

"Well, why don't we try?" Lucy invited. "I may as well try to understand why we're in the middle of Sootopolis and my boyfriend's hitting rocks with a hammer."

"Here we go," Vulpix sighed.

"Rude," Lucy's Milotic chided. "You can always tune out if you don't want to hear."

"Yeah, but I'm trying to work on rusting," Vulpix said. "It's a thing I've heard happens if you have dark fur in sunlight and it sounds more likely to work than a tan for me. But I can't just stop listening in case I have to do any translation."

Lucy held her hand up to her mouth, disguising a giggle. "Oh, dear…"

"What?" Vulpix asked.

"I'm interested!" Eevee said, bounding over. "I'll listen, Brock!"

"Hmm," Brock mused. "I know… Eevee, if anyone wants to say something, you can get Vulpix's attention. Until then, Swablu, can you give Vulpix a cone of silence?"

Vulpix looked much more satisfied with herself, and lay back on top of an outcrop in the sun.

"So, Sootopolis is actually the inside of a really big volcano," Brock explained. "It's not a dangerous one, but there's some rocks here which are unusual for rocks – like these."

He held two up.

"This is natural volcanic glass, which is very sharp," he told her. "Which is actually how Onix has learned to use Sharpen. And this is pumice, which is a rock so light it floats."

"That just sounds fundamentally weird to me," Lucy admitted. "How does that work?"

"It's actually sort of like foam," Brock explained.

"Oh!" Eevee gasped. "So if I turned into a Rock-type, umm… what would it be… anyway, I could use Cut because of obsidian?"

"Live the dream, Veester," Geodude told her. "But the Brock didn't understand you, remember?"

Eevee wilted slightly. "Oh, right… whoops…"

"Still, I think I've got an idea about what a Rock type Eevee evolution could be," Geodude said. "You know how dolomite is a rock? And, well, an Eevee evolution we haven't met yet would have to be from the future. So it'd be a Doloreon."

"Of course, these are all igneous rocks," Brock was explaining. "That's why the beaches here have black sand. But there's also sedimentary and metamorphic rocks, and those last ones are really gneiss."

Milotic looked from Brock to Geodude.

"I don't understand either of those, but I'm sure they were both terrible puns," she said, with lofty dignity.

AN:

You sort of have to feel sorry for Professor Sycamore, it's a lot to come at you in one go.

Or spread out over a long time.