A/N: Written for:
Indigo League Challenge, Mt. Moon Task – 6 drabble collection (excluding extras), third drabble 400-450 words.
Mega Prompts Challenge, word prompts #452 – tough
A Trail of Dust Particles – Alain's Journey
Drabble 04: Lysandre's Mercenary
Getting stronger was a tough road at the beginning, and a tough road at the end for two very different reasons.
It was tough at the beginning because almost everyone seemed to be stronger than him. He was forced to battle trainers far his junior to have somewhat even battles at first, and that grated at his pride. Perhaps that was part of the reason he graduated from them so quickly.
Later on, as he moved further and further ahead, the bottleneck effect ticked in. There were less trainers, the better he got. By the time he was capable of mega evolution, there were even fewer who could stand up to that. But by then he had Lysandre, who'd direct him to mega stones and mega evolution trainers, and that suited him fine. No, to be entirely honest with himself, it suited him best.
But getting there had been an entirely different challenge. Charmeleon was still Charmeleon then, and he was strong but not strong enough for the mega stone. Lysandre proved it by defeating him so soundly. Proved it again by showing him exactly what he needed to pass his limitations – too early, when Charmeleon was still Charmeleon and couldn't evolve.
But Lysandre knew he could do it, somehow. Gave him the mega stone and the Charizardite X – guaranteed him the power he sought – in return for a contract.
More people to protect. That was okay. He'd be protecting the Professor, albeit somewhat indirectly, in the process.
So he grew even stronger, even more quickly now that he had some directions on the road and didn't search aimlessly and filter through the masses by himself. And his assignments were generally searching for mega stones and searching for trainers: nothing he hadn't done before, but now there was a slightly different purpose. He couldn't send the stones to Professor Sycamore anymore. He couldn't keep in contact as often either – and at some point, he decided to cut himself off completely. He was getting into dangerous territory, after all. Lysandre Labs had the manpower to protect itself and its knowledge but Professor Sycamore did not. He was too innocent for all that. Too bright. Too full of life.
Alain could protect him from the shadows and that was fine. And as for Lysandre, he didn't have to wear the Team Flare uniform. He didn't have to know the deeper, darker secrets. He wasn't Team Flare. He worked for Lysandre and that was a trade for strength and protection and nothing more.