Ash's Mega Evolution Trial

"Attention passengers we will soon be approaching Draco Island, home of Elite Four member Drake. If you're lucky enough you may even be able to witness him battling in person as he's taking on challengers for the World Championship!"

"Aw yeah, it won't be much longer before I can face Drake again!" Ash shouted, his fists pumped with excitement.

"You're going to have to be careful on this one, Drake is a lot more skilled than Siebold was. It's important that you keep a cool head and don't get cocky," Marnie advised.

"Don't you worry I know exactly what I'm dealing with!" Ash shouted as he locked his gaze upon the fast approaching shore of Draco Island. "And hopefully he'll have advice on where to find a Mega Evolution keystone!"

"Didn't Zach also want one of those?" Chloe asked as she turned to look at their friend who wasn't paying much attention as his eyes were locked in the direction that Butterfree had disappeared to, he'd hardly spoken a word since Butterfree had left a few days ago.

"I don't think that's the best idea right now, he can always find one later when he's in a better state of mind and has a clear head." Marnie stated with a bit of a protective stance, he was like a brother to her and she didn't want to risk harm coming to him due to his lack of focus.

"She's right, Drake's challenge is no joke." May held up her arm to reveal a Mega Ring of her own. "It's better if he gets it later on."

Within the hour the ship docked at the island and the group departed onto shore, the island's buildings were quite the unusual design as all of the buildings appeared to be made and shaped from stones, smoke pouring out of the chimneys of some gave the impression that the island didn't even have electricity!

"...so much for calling my folks." Chloe looked down at her Rotom Phone which was on a drained battery.

"Ahoy there, landlubbers. What brings you to my island?" A man stood on top of a nearby hut looking down upon the group, the sunlight made it quite hard to see who it was but the voice did sound familiar to Ash.

"I've come to face Drake in a rematch, have you got any idea where I can find him?"

"Know him? Ha, I am him!" The man laughed, leaping off the building and landing firmly on his face before his eyes looked upon Ash for the first time in years. "Ash Ketchum, I'd recognize that face anywhere!"

"For an old man he sure doesn't act like it." Chloe muttered as Marnie nodded lightly in response.

"It's good to see you too, Drake! I've finally come for a rematch and things won't go down the way they did back then!" Ash shouted, excitement flared through his eyes as Drake crossed his arms and let out a hearty laugh.

"Hah, I'd welcome the challenge! I'm quite interested in seeing how much you've grown as a trainer since then but something tells me that you've come here for more than just that though." Drake flashed Ash a knowing smirk. "You've come here for a Keystone, haven't you?"

"Well yeah, how did you know?" Ash had a look of surprise as Drake laughed in response.

"You don't have one on your arm for one! You may be able to take down some Mega Pokemon without one of your own but there's no way that you'll defeat a well trained Pokemon like mine without one of your own!" Drake turned his gaze towards a nearby mountain. "You are to climb that mountain, by yourself." He added as he looked towards Ash's companions. "Powerful Pokemon live up there and will be an obstacle on your path to the cave at the peak, rather you avoid or fight them is entirely up to you but if you wish to obtain a Keystone then you must beat the Guardian within the cave!"

"Guardian?" Ash asked with a raised eyebrow as Drake merely laughed in response.

"You'll see! Well what are you waiting for? Sooner you get it the sooner we can have an all out fight!"

Ash turned to look at his friends or rather most of them as Zach was still staring off into space. "Well I guess I'll be seeing you all in a bit."

"Just be careful, you don't know what's up there." Marnie advised.

"And make sure you drink plenty of water," Chloe added.

"We'll be fine, go on ahead. We all know you're eager to." May gave her old friend a smirk.

Ash turned to Pikachu as the two pumped their fists and locked eyes with eager expressions upon their faces. "Well then I guess we should get going Pikachu, let's go!"

"Pika!" The two turned and began making the journey towards the mountain while Chloe turned her attention to their other friend.

"Maybe the three of us could try cheering him up? He hardly seems aware of his surroundings." She pointed out as Scorbunny was eagerly leaping for a pie that somebody left on their open windowsill while Lucario attempted to pull her away.

"I was actually planning on it," Marnie spoke. "He seemed to have a fatherly connection to Butterfree from what I noticed, perhaps if we introduce him to something new that he can raise it'll help fill the void."

"That could backfire," May brought up. "If you try and get him another Bug type you'll likely just upset him."

"That's a pretty good point, come on I'm sure there's something somewhere around here that'll help!" Marnie waved her arm as the three split off to look for a Pokemon.


"I can't believe we were stuck on that there garbage barge for weeks, I'm gonna make that brat pay if I ever see him again!" Leroy hissed irritably as he and his brother quickly began stashing Pokemon eggs onto a cart. The two absolutely reeked as the smell was practically visible as it drifted off their clothes.

"Yeah but this is quite the easy score, an old hag guarding a village's supply of Dragon Pokemon eggs!" Cletus added

"Yeah, good thing I thought of robbing her! Was quite easy to put her to sleep long enough for us to swipe them all! No doubt ma will be pleased when we bring home an army of Dragonite and Salamence, Unova will be brought to it's knees in sheer terror of our might!"

"And that brat is miles away, there's no way we'll get stopped this time!" Cletus laughed along with his brother as they soon burst through the front door with the cart full of dragon eggs only to wind up face to face with Chloe and Eevee, the four locked eyes and were silent for a moment before eventually pointing at the rivaling group as they simultaneously shouted.

"You!"

"Ew gross!" Chloe suddenly clenched her nose as the wind blew and gave her a strong whiff of their smell. Eevee did a similar response as she covered her nose with her paw and lightly whined, tears coming from her eyes as bubbles started pouring out of her mouth.

"Quickly if she's here no doubt her boyfriend is!" Leroy shouted, pushing all his strength into it as the pair raced through the streets and gaining quite a lot of attention as several people dived out of the way to avoid getting smashed by the speeding cart!

"What the-?" May and Marnie quickly dived out of the way.

"Outta the way ya losers, Team Rocket coming through!" Leroy laughed maniacally as he and his brother sped through the town, aiming towards where they had left the speedboat that they had stolen shortly after leaving the garbage barge.

"Uh Leroy, there's a little twerp in the way!" Cletus pointed out as a fairly young girl stood in the middle of the pathway, completely unaware of what was coming as she played with a ball.

"Screw that, I'm not letting us get caught again! This time we will succeed!" Leroy laughed, an evil glint forming in his eye as he picked up the speed. Cletus looked unsure but eventually went along with it, the cart raced down the hill and gained on the little girl before a flash of blue and black appeared before them, latching itself onto the front of the cart and slowing it down, stopping it right before it could hit the girl. Lucario's tail brushed up against the girl's back from how close they were as he let out a growl, narrowing his eyes at the two dimwitted Rocket agents.

"Gah!"

"Team Rocket I presume?" Marnie spoke up as she caught up, Grimmsnarl stood next to her as he let out a menacing growl and stared them down. "We haven't met but I heard about you, picking on a defenseless friend of mine before she even had a Pokemon? Not cool." She shook her head before turning to Grimmsnarl. "Grimmsnarl, use Dark Pulse!"

"No wait! Y-You'll hurt the eggs!" Cletus cried out as he immediately cowered upon the ground, Leroy rolled his eyes before pulling his brother up.

"Come brother she won't dare chase us once I... do this!" Leroy yanked a light blue egg with small white markings at the bottom off of the cart, slowly backing up with a gleeful smirk. "We're making it to our boat else you risk this egg going bye-bye!"

"Yeah what he said!" Cletus backed up with his brother as Marnie clenched her fists with a frustrated look. "D-Do you suddenly feel cold, bro?" He suddenly asked.

"Of course not, it has to be a hundred degrees out her-oh." Leroy looked down and growled out as he realized somebody had fired an Ice Beam attack at them, freezing their legs in a block of ice! "Curses!"

May let out a giggle before revealing herself, Glaceon walking by her side as she yanked the egg out of their clutches. "We'll be taking that!"

"C-Curse you..." Leroy spoke as he chattered his teeth.

"And now to make sure you don't try this again, Dark Pulse!" Grimmsnarl roared as dark energy began forming within his mouth before being unleashed in a powerful beam! The impact resulted in an explosion that sent the pair flying out to sea and to parts unknown!

"Well that's taken care of, let's get these eggs back to where they belong."

"Hmph, you landlubbers actually did a fairly good job at protecting our island." Drake spoke as he suddenly appeared. "It's obvious you all care a lot for Pokemon kind, and human kind too." Drake said as he glanced back at the kid Lucario saved who was now hugging her mom with tears falling off of her frightened face.

"Tell you what, I'll let the two of each take an egg of your choice as a reward for your mighty deed! I'll take the rest back to the nursery, don't you worry about doing that!" He offered.

May looked down at the egg she was holding before gazing off in the direction that Lucario had disappeared to. "I think I'll give this one to a friend if you don't mind."

"Of course!"

Marnie glanced at May as the girl stole her idea but shrugged it off and just hoped that it'd work on fixing him. She gazed at the cart and pondered over her decision before Grimmsnarl reached down and picked up an egg for her, dropping a dark blue one with what appeared to be black fur on the upper half of the egg.

Marnie gave her Pokemon a quizzical expression while it gave her a thumbs up.

"Ah, Deino! An excellent choice, those Pokemon hail from the Unova region and can be quite the challenge to raise but will make for a powerful and reliable Dark/Dragon type!" The news made Marnie smirk as she pulled the egg closer to her.

"I've made my choice!"


The trio soon made their way back to where they had left Zach who appeared to be in the exact spot they left him in, not moving an inch. Marnie gave May a nod, encouraging her to step forward as the brunette girl held out the egg with a warm smile.

"Zach? W-We got you something that we think will cheer you up!"

"Hopefully, I miss hanging out with you." Marnie added.

"Yeah, we miss the old you!" Chloe pitched in.

"Eevee!"

Zach turned his head to look at the egg, tilting his head as he slowly reached out and took the egg, soon holding it in his grasp as Lucario let out a light coo. Scorbunny hopped up onto her trainer's shoulders and reached out with her paw to touch the egg which began glowing brightly immediately upon impact, blinding them all with a bright light as a Dratini was soon visible within the trainer's arms, looking up at him with big bright eyes as tears began to flow from Zach's eyes again as he pulled the serpent Pokemon into a hug. The Dragon type cooing out affectionately in response.

"Thank you..."


It had been several days but Ash was steadily approaching the peak of the mountain, several powerful Dragon types had attempted to stop him but with the assistance of Pikachu, Charizard, Gengar, Gabite and Latias it wasn't a major issue. Dreepy had even gained a bit of experience as well by challenging weaker Dragon types such as Jangmo-o and a couple of Deino.

"Alright Gengar we're almost through this, use Psychic!"

"Gengar!" The Ghost type's eyes glowed bright blue as he flashed his familiar smirk, lifting a Hakamo-o off the ground before slamming it down hard! The Dragon/Fighting type let out a groan in defeat, allowing for Ash and his team to finally advance to the peak of the mountain where they soon stood outside of it's cave.

"Alright I'm pretty sure I'm only allowed to take one of you in there so would the rest of you mind letting Latias have this?" The rest of his Pokemon nodded their heads in agreement before Ash returned them to their Pokeballs, Pikachu remained on his shoulder with his tail twitching in excitement as Ash turned to face his newest Pokemon. "Alright Latias, you ready?!"

"Ready, Chosen One!"

"I told you to stop calling me that, my name's Ash!" Ash sweated while emitting a light chuckle as he began leading the way into the cavern, it was fairly bright for a cave as crystals lined up against the cavern walls and marked the path further into the cavern, Ash and his Pokemon couldn't help but eye the crystals in wonder as colorful lights shined brightly everywhere, it was quite the sight to behold! Eventually they came to a dead end, large room with no exits apart from where they had came with a giant crystal in the middle, a great deal of energy radiating off of it as it's mere presence caused Latias to be engulfed in a bright pink light as she was transformed into her Mega Latias form for the first time!

"Wow..." Ash gazed at Mega Latias for a minute before looking back towards the giant crystal. "That crystal must provide the same energy required to trigger a Mega Evolution!"

"You're correct chosen one," An old hermit walked around the back of the crystal, an ancient looking Pokeball within the palm of his hand as he stared Ash down. "I am the guardian of the Draco Island keystones, none may pass without proving their worth to me!"

"Why do people keep calling me that..." Ash groaned out as Pikachu snickered in response. "I'm here to prove my worth to you alright, but how?"

"We battle." The guardian responded with a joyful smirk, laughing maniacally as he threw forward a Pokeball and summoned a Garchomp which was instantly transformed into a Mega Garchomp due to the presence of the crystal.

Mega Garchomp and Mega Latias locked eyes before the guardian let out a shout.

"Dragon Rush!" Garchomp's body became surrounded in a light blue aura as he released a powerful roar and stomped across the cave as he raced towards Latias!

"Dodge by flying above then counter it with Dragon Pulse!" Latias flew upwards, narrowly avoiding Garchomp as he continued racing past before crashing into the wall. A pulse of green-blue energy then began charging within Latias' mouth before being unleashed upon the Garchomp!

"Sandstorm!" Garchomp roared out as a thick sandstorm started flowing through the cave, blocking sight of the Pokemon while Latias could be heard grunting as sand pelted her body.

"Latias, close your eyes and sense Garchomp's location with your mind, then use Psychic!" Ash shouted through the sandstorm.

Latias heard her trainer as she closed her eyes and let her senses guide her, her eyes soon shot open and glowed bright blue as a blue outline of Garchomp could be seen as the Dragon type was hoisted up before being thrown across the gym, a loud thud shook the cavern as he crashed against the ground.

"Hyper Beam!" The familiar orange-yellow beam of energy blasted through the sandstorm, nailing Latias in the left wing and causing her to go crashing down to the ground below!

"Latias!"

"I'm okay, Chosen One. What is your next command?" Latias spoke through their connection. Ash thought for a moment before closing his eyes and responding to her via thoughts.

'Dragon Pulse once more but use it on the ceiling above Garchomp!' Latias nodded in response as she aimed her head upwards, the blue-green energy pulse formed within her mouth before being fired directly upwards, striking a stalactite and causing it to come crashing down directly on Garchomp's head! Garchomp went cross eyed and began walking back and forth for a bit before collapsing forward and laying down in defeat as he reverted back to normal form.

"Alright, we did it!" Ash shouted out as Latias swiftly zoomed across the cave and pressed her head up against him, nuzzling him in an affectionate manner.

"I won, I actually won!"

"Indeed you have," The guardian smiled, reaching into his robe and pulling out a Mega Ring fitted with a keystone before handing it to Ash. "This is yours now, you've earned it. Now with it you'll be able to Mega Evolve any Pokemon you desire, assuming you can locate or buy the keystone."

Ash put it on his right arm and admired it for a moment before looking up to thank the man only for him to have already disappeared.

"What?"

"Oh a challenger, I'm so sorry but I only just got back from collecting supplies! Are you prepared to battle?" Ash turned and noticed what appeared to be the real guardian but if that was the case then who did he just fight?


Thanks to the trial being over the descent of the mountain was much easier as Ash simply hopped onto Latias' back and was back in town within ten minutes. It took a bit to track down his friends but he eventually found them at a diner, immediately noticing that Zach seemed a lot like his normal self while also spotting that there was a Dratini in his lap while Marnie was holding an egg. Looks like his friends had a miniature adventure of their own while he was away.

Marnie soon turned her head and began frantically waving her arm. "Hey Ash, welcome back!"

"Did you get a Mega Ring?!" Zach was quick to ask, excitement showing in his eyes as Ash raised up his arm to show them. "Oooh, lucky! I can't wait until Lucario and I can experience that!"

"Car!" Lucario nodded with a similar look of excitement in his eyes.

"And I'm ready to take on Drake so let's get go-ing..." His mouth began drooling at the sight of the food, due to his inability to cook all he really had to eat the past few days was premade sandwiches and chips!

"You should eat first," Marnie rolled her eyes lightly before standing up so Ash could take her seat, giving him a warm smile.

Ash smiled back as he took the seat and began quickly chowing down on food, excitement filled his body as he knew he was only a few hours away from facing Drake!

Next time Ash and Drake have their rematch!

And Ash now has the ability to Mega Evolve Pokemon, once he finds the required stones of course as he only has Latias'.