"It's supposed to be around here…" Korrina said. "In Geosenge Town. But my grandfather said I'd know when I got here."

"You'd know when you got here," Clemont repeated. "That's very unhelpful."

He frowned, thinking, then snapped his fingers. "I know! I'll put something together to help detect Mega Stones!"

"Processing," the Translation Gear said. "Translation complete. Clemont used Explosion."

"I really need to fix this thing," Clemont grumbled. "But, hmm… maybe if I used a Key Stone as part of the device…"

"I… actually feel like that wouldn't be right," Korrina said. "It'd be cheating. This is meant to be a test for me, and I think I should be a big part of how it's worked out. That doesn't mean I want you all to not help, but that… uh, when you help it shouldn't be the main part of how it all happens, I think? Does that make sense?"

"I agree, even if it doesn't," her Lucario nodded. "A Mega Stone should be-"

He stopped, looking over at Ash, and visibly reconsidered.

"I think finding our Mega Stone should be important to us," he said. "I was going to say that should be a general rule, but I just remembered what we heard about how Ash's Phanpy beat that Aggron."

"We should ask people," Bonnie suggested. "If we don't do that now, when we eventually have to do it we'll look really stupid!"

"Good idea," Korrina agreed. "Let's see if we can find someone who isn't busy…"

Within a few minutes, they found a man with a camera.

"Hello, there," he said. "Ash Ketchum and Clemont from Lumiose? That's quite a group you've got there."

He raised his camera. "Want a photo to remember your visit by?"

"That would be great," Korrina said.

The man blinked. "Huh. Not often we see talking Pokémon here."

Korrina looked confused, then glanced down at herself.

"Oh, right," she realized. "Wow, you get used to things quick… am I going to feel weird not having a tail now?"

"In my experience, you usually end up able to remember how to walk like a human," Ash supplied. "It's like riding a bike, because learning to ride a bike doesn't mean you forget how to walk."

"That's not what-" Pikachu began, then rethought. "Actually, never mind, carry on."

They got their photo, then the man – a local called McGinty – listened to the explanation of why they were there.

He thought about it for a long moment.

"Well, I don't know about Lucarionite specifically," he said, eventually. "But there's a remote cave a few miles yonder where you're supposed to be able to find a special stone… if you're qualified, that is. Someone unqualified entering the cave would meet a terrible fate."

"Is there a sign outside?" Ash asked, immediately. "That sounds like it could be really dangerous to Pokémon like Zubat who might wander inside without realizing that it's a cave where terrible things happen if you're unqualified."

"Oh, um…" McGinty said. "I don't think there is, no."

"We should make one," Bonnie decided. "And bring it with us, so we can warn all the Zubat!"

"Hmm," Serena said, already thinking to herself. "Can most Zubat read? Obviously we'd need to make the sign so that the letters are 3-D somehow, or they wouldn't be able to read it at night, but would it work that way…"

Arc beeped.

"Location parsed," they stated. "Yonder has been identified. Adding icon to map."

"Thanks, Arc!" Ash praised. "Then let's go!"

McGinty watched them go, with some trepidation.

"Gurrkin didn't say she was a Pokémon," he said. "I really hope this is what he wanted…"

"We're getting pretty close," Ash reported, looking at the dot on Arc's map. "I guess we should be looking around for cave entrances."

"Right," Korrina agreed. "Hmm…"

She hopped up onto a rock, wobbled and balanced herself, then glanced back at Lucario. "Do you think we're more likely to see something from high up or lower down?"

"I have no idea," Lucario replied. "But I do think that there's something I've been wanting to try out since yesterday and there's finally a good reason for it."

He held out his paws to Korrina, then picked her up and put her on his shoulders.

"There," he said.

"Okay, I want to see what this looks like!" Korrina laughed. "Does anyone have a camera?"

"I do," Arc said. "Please hold me up, Ash?"

Ash did so, and Arc pulsed golden. "Flash."

"Thanks!" Korrina said. "So, will you email it, or…?"

"I can email it," Arc confirmed. "Or I could impress it onto a blank plate. Or both."

Korrina raised a paw to her chin, thinking about that. "Hmm…"

While she pondered, however, Lucario had looked along the route they were taking.

"I sense something," he announced. "It might be the Lucarionite."

"Then let's go and find out," Serena decided. "Maybe that's part of the challenge… Lucario can find the Lucarionite, so you have to listen to him and work together?"

"That would be a lot easier if I'd bothered to learn how to speak with Aura," Lucario admitted. "With how convenient it's been to talk to Korrina so far I am definitely learning after this."

"That would be great!" Korrina said. "It wouldn't really solve the leaving-someone-to-run-the-gym thing because I'd rather have you with me, but it'd be great just to be able to talk."

A couple of minutes later, they reached the mouth of a cave.

"It looks dark in there," Clemont said. "Fortunately, it'll only take me a short time to set up a Light Creating Gear!"

"Processing," the Translation Gear reported. "Translation complete. 1, 2, and… poof! Clemont forgot Flash!"

"I was going to say," Fennekin admitted. "Arc even used it earlier."

"Why are all the easy problems already solved?" Clemont asked. "Wait, no, that's because they're easy problems, forget I said anything."

Zygarde obliged by using Flash, lighting up their nose, and the group descended into the cave.

"Is there something special about Lucarionite?" Serena checked. "This seems like a lot of trouble for a Mega Stone."

"They're supposed to be rare," Korrina replied. "But, actually, my family is supposed to have been the one which first Mega Evolved a Lucario! It was a long time ago, of course, but… I'm interested in following in their footsteps."

"There is a door up ahead," Zygarde reported.

"Oh, so this is probably something that's been deliberately set up," Ash said. "That makes it fun! It's like how I caught Ho-Oh, he dropped a feather and I had to follow some clues to get to where I should challenge him… or, that's what the idea was. It kind of didn't work like that."

"It didn't?" Bonnie said. "What happened?"

"Well, he forgot to drop the feather," Pikachu replied. "Several times. Then he didn't make it clear where we were supposed to go, he tried to have Marshadow guide Ash to the right place but Marshadow misunderstood what Ho-Oh meant, and eventually Ho-Oh just gave up and tracked Ash down for a battle."

Korrina giggled. "Oh, dear… well, I hope this goes better."

She pushed the door open, and she and Lucario advanced down the path.

A Blaziken stepped into their way. "Halt," it said. "You must- wait, where's the human?"

Korrina held up her paw.

"No, you're a Mienfoo," Blaziken pointed out.

"Only for now," Korrina said. "Oh, hold on, can I check? If we have to get past you, can we both take part?"

Blaziken looked totally confused. "You're… okay, provisionally accepting that you're a human, then surely you wouldn't know any attacks?"

"I don't know many!" Korrina agreed. "But I did learn one."

She jumped, and gave Lucario a high five.

"Let's do this!" she said. "Lucario, go!"

Thanks to Korrina's advice and help(ing hand), Lucario managed to get the upper paw over Blaziken, boosting himself with a combination of Power-Up Punches and Helping Hands before trapping Blaziken with a Bone Rush.

"All right, that's enough," said a voice.

Korrina's grandfather Gurrkin stepped out into the light. "Well done, you've defeated my Blaziken. Now, I really have to ask… why are you a Pokémon?"

"It's magic," Serena supplied helpfully. "The potion works by translating the soul's expression into the closest fitting Pokémon, via a reversible transformation with an energy threshold for reverting. There's actually enough energy to reverse the transformation tied up in the spell plus a surplus, and as the surplus decays it eventually reaches the point where it triggers the reversal."

"However, it's not a simple case of the same potion doing the reverse thing," Fennekin supplied. "You need to flip the vector direction around, and the failsafes have to be different."

Gurrkin stared.

"What?" Serena replied. "We have to understand this stuff if we're going to do it."

"I… genuinely have no idea what to say to that," Gurrkin admitted. "I'll just move on."

"Probably a good habit to develop," Pikachu said.

"Korrina, take good care of this Lucarionite, and of your Lucario," Gurrkin resumed. "...no, sorry, I have to go back to the Pokémon thing. Can Pokémon Mega-Evolve Pokémon?"

"I mega-evolved my fiancée as part of an experiment," Lokoko said.

"Oh, congratulations!" Ash told her.

"Thank you," Lokoko smiled. "We haven't decided on when yet, but… she said yes."

"That's so lovely," Serena said.

"I am completely lost at this point," Gurrkin said.

"Common side effect of being around Ash, I gather," Lucario replied.

A few hours later, Korrina held up her Mega Ring.

"Let's do this, Lucario!" she said.

"Of course," Lucario replied, then there was a flash of golden light as he Mega-Evolved.

"How do you feel?" Korrina said.

"It's amazing," Mega Lucario replied. "I feel like I could do anything…"

"Then let's see how much stronger you are!" Korrina suggested. "Ash, do you have a good Pokémon to battle?"

"Sure," Ash decided. "Uh… what about Dewott?"

Ibid vanished, reappearing a moment later, and Dewott came out of his Pokéball.

"So, what's up?" he asked. "Oh, a Mega Lucario, right? This should be interesting."

"Are you sure he's strong enough to battle me?" Mega Lucario asked.

"Careful," Korrina said. "You know what Ash is like."

"Still," the Mega-Evolved Pokémon protested, then shook his head. "I'll trust you, Korrina."

All right, let's go!" Clemont said.

"Strengthen my heart, Scalchops!" Dewott invoked, jumping out of the way of Mega Lucario's first Power-Up Punch, and they both lit up – one purple, the other green. "Huh, that one's not bad…"

He flicked the first at Mega Lucario, sending a heart-shaped pulse of energy which hit his opponent and knocked them back, then formed a Tailcurrent and pulled himself backwards away from a follow-up attack.

"Any idea how to use the other one?" he asked Ash, as Mega Lucario lashed out with increasingly strong attacks.

"Just a moment," Ash requested, checking Arc and Ibid.

"Calm down, Lucario!" Korrina called.

"Oh, hold on, I recognize this," Dewott added. "That happened once when I went Hisuian Samurott in training…"

"Just use it and keep them coming!" Ash said. "There's no reason you shouldn't be able to control them after you throw them, right?"

"I like the sound of that," Dewott agreed, then unleashed Petal Blizzard.

Several minutes later, and with a lovely scent of cherry-blossom in the air from what had probably been about four tonnes of Petal Blizzards, Lucario looked ashamed.

"I'm sorry, Korrina," he said. "I just… I was full of enthusiasm, and it was hard to focus, and I kept…"

"It's okay, Lucario," Korrina told him. "We'll work out what to do – together."

She hugged his arm. "I was scared, but I couldn't be scared of you."

"Thank you, Korrina," Lucario said. "We do need to work this out, but… that helps."

He rubbed his other arm. "And I need to get all this sap off me..."

AN:

Rose petals and cherry blossom are very useful for a dramatic entrance and exit, or, if in bulk, flattening someone.

A tonne of petals is still a tonne.