Orre's Return
By Hollis Pierman
WARNING: This story contains acts of severe violence, abuse/neglect, and frequent use of coarse language. Viewer discretion advised.
DISCLAIMER: I don't own Pokemon in any way; Nintendo and GAME FREAK own it.
Chapter 8: The Discoveries
Wes and Krane spent two hours driving non-stop through the deserts of Orre before passing over the Agate River and through a small patch of forests. Krane instructed to Wes to keep following the path that passes by an old manor. And sure enough, to the left of them, far off in the distance, was an old manor house, whom Krane explained belonged to a Dr. Kaminko. He advised him never to go there. Shortly after, they arrived at the Pokemon HQ Lab. Wes parked the car around the back of the facility, and exited to proceed to follow Krane into the facility. As soon as Wes and Krane entered, everyone gasped with immediate relief to see Krane totally unscathed, and even better, alive. Then everyone asked who Wes was and how he managed to save Krane. Krane replied with,
"Please, please, guys. All in due time."
As Krane went on answering more questions, Wes couldn't help but notice a young boy, about half of Wes' age, and with the same kind of determination in his eyes as he had when he set off on his first journey. He was wearing a yellow vest over a black shirt, with blue jeans and black shoes and a small bag next to him. He also wore a blue headband all the way around his red spiky hair. When asked to introduce himself, Wes quickly turned away from the boy, and gave the first straight answer he could give, in public, in a long time.
"My name is Wes. I am a former member of Team Snagem turned hero, who battled the criminal organization Cipher, and the very team I was associated with before..."
Wes went on for quite some time, explaining in relatively simple details what had happened and what he had to go through to be able to stop Cipher. He also explained that before he blew up Team Snagem's hideout, he left with a little souvenir, a prototype Snag Machine. And the main reason Team Snagem wanted to stop Wes was to get the Snag Machine back and continue to use it for evil. After Wes' story, everyone went on about their business as usual, although their day seemed ever brighter with Krane's safe return, all thanks to Wes. Krane turned to Wes and said,
"Well, let's go examine those three shadow pokemon, huh? Follow me."
Wes was lead by Krane to an examination chamber filled with instruments and machines; one used for displaying holograms of shadow pokemon. There was a massive set of computers, used for displaying information, with three displays built-in. The chamber was very messy and old-aged.
"Sorry about the mess... we have big plans for this chamber... I've been meaning to dismantle this machine for a long time, and never got around to it, but now I'm glad I didn't! With these machines, we can examine every statistic available for a pokemon, and project their physical forms using the machine in the middle. It can even examine evolutionary trees! Let's take a look, first, at that venusaur." Wes gave Krane his log-in information for the P.C. Storage System, and Krane was able to view the venusaur on the machine. A hologram of the form of venusaur was projected in the middle of the room, and looked like it did before whatever happened back at that facility.
Krane messed with a few options, and with the press of a button, allowed the information on its evolutionary line to be viewed on the screen. It showed the species "Bulbasaur", "Ivysaur", and lastly "Venusaur". However, there was a silhouette with a question mark blocking it fully. Krane asked Wes to link his P*DA with the machine, and the machine examined all the data in Wes' P*DA. When the registrar of the P*DA confirmed the final form, the machine blurted out:
"The final form of the species 'Venusaur' is 'Mega Venusaur'. It is obtained by Mega Evolution."
Krane and Wes were shocked to hear a term they'd never heard of before; Mega Evolution... It seemed so epic to both of them.
"Actually," Krane said, scratching his chin, "I think I remember hearing a term like that... Hang on just a second!"
Krane rushed to another room, where the sound of a door was opening, stairs were being descended, and papers and file cabinets were falling everywhere. After a few minutes of searching, Krane rushed back into the examination chamber with a phone number from an old friend.
"Let's see if this number still works..." Krane dialed the number on the keypad next to the computer, and looked on the third, right-most display. Soon, someone actually answered. A man with crazy black hair going in zig-zags or curls, wearing a white lab-coat over a blue button-up shirt. The man addressed himself,
"Bonjour! Professor Sycamore's lab-" Sycamore stopped and looked in disbelief at the sight in front of him, "...Professor Krane?! You're alive and safe! I heard you were kidnapped! How on earth did you even survive?!"
"No time to explain, Professor Sycamore. For now though, we need your help, urgently."
"We? I see no 'we', who else is with you?"
"You may recognize his face..." Krane stepped away from the screen to let Professor Sycamore see, and he was stunned.
"Sacrebleu! Could that be the one and only Wes? Savior of Orre? An honor to meet you, dear boy! Now, with the introductions out of the way, how can I help you two?"
Wes explained the battle between him and Resix, Blusix, and Greesix, and the phenomenon that happened with the three Kanto starters. Krane stepped in to explain the computer said something about a Mega-Evolution, and wanted to know what this is.
"Well, in order to give you the best explanation possible, let me bring someone else into this call..." Sycamore dialed a number and brought a trainer into the second display of Krane's computer set-up. She was a girl with creamy-yellow hair going out of a red and white helmet in three different directions, wearing a matching skirt. At least, that's all of what Krane and Wes could see on her.
"Hey, Professor Sycamore! What's up?" the girl asked.
"Korrina, these two gentlemen urgently need an explanation on Mega Evolution. Could you give me a hand?"
"Of course! First, I should introduce myself. My name is Korrina! I'm the gym leader of Shalour City in the Kalos region, and aiming to be the successor of my father, Gurkinn, the Mega Evolution guru!"
"Pleasure to meet you, Korrina," Krane said, before continuing his sentence. He and Wes once again explained the battle and how the Kanto Starters had a new form by way of Mega Evolution, and wanted a quick explanation.
"Ahh! Well, Mega Evolution is a temporary transformation that occurs only in select pokemon throughout the world; as far as we know, only 26 species of pokemon in the world can 'Mega-Evolve' into a form that is more powerful than their previous form. However, there are two special items required; one of a trainer, and one of the pokemon. The first is an accessory used to activate the Mega-Evolution process, and the other is a special stone that is unique to the species that holds it. And when both of these items are used properly, Mega-Evolution occurs. But it only works in the heat of battle, and the pokemon reverts back to the previous form after a battle has ended."
Professor Sycamore chimed in, "I believe that Mega-Evolution can be obtained if there is a very strong bond between a trainer and their pokemon, and both of their hearts are pure good."
"That's just the thing though... These pokemon are shadow pokemon, whose hearts have been artificially closed by the criminal organization Cipher. Yet the three trainers that wielded the three Kanto starters were able to Mega-Evolve them even though they were shadow pokemon. How could this be?"
"That is very tough to say, but it may be that the shadow pokemon uses the power of the artificially closed heart to link with its trainer, thus causing a Mega-Evolution. Or, the trainer may have used artificial means to trigger the Mega-Evolution. Those are two working suggestions as to why that is, but if you were to send me a shadow pokemon, I can conduct research on why Mega Evolutions can occur in shadow pokemon. Do you have any in your P.C., Wes?"
Wes nodded and agreed to temporarily hand one over for research purposes.
"Tres bien! Merci, Wes!" He proceeded to send over the blastoise, though he imagined that sending any one of them could lead to something bad. Sycamore received the blastoise and assured it would be taken care of as best as he could. And he also assured Wes that he isn't responsible for any damages the blastoise causes.
"I believe there may be more secrets that even I don't know, so I believe it may be a good idea to get my father to help us out! I will go to the Tower of Mastery and explain to him everything that has happened with you. Nice to meet you, Wes and Professor Krane!" With that, Korrina's transmission ended.
"Yes... Gurkinn, my old friend. He is a descendant of the first trainer known here to have Mega-Evolved a pokemon; a lucario is what is believed to be the first pokemon known to be able to Mega-Evolve. You are obviously no ordinary soul, Wes. You have the power to stop this evil in the world. You have a heart so pure that you could Mega-Evolve every known pokemon that can! If this Cipher takes things too far, you will be the one to defeat them, and take them back several years! I know you can do it! Well, I'm off to start my research. If I may ask for one more thing, though; when I'm done with my research, I would like to email you. Do you have your P*DA number handy?"
Wes gave Sycamore his P*DA number.
"Fantastique! Thank you again, Wes. Talk to you both later! Adieu!"
Sycamore's transmission ended. Krane stood there, bewildered over what was just explained to them.
"Wow... we just learned some valuable information about Mega Evolutions that rarely anyone else in Orre knows about! If it's alright with you, I would also like one of those shadow pokemon to collaborate with Professor Sycamore in furthering our understanding about Mega Evolutions while a pokemon's heart is closed off."
Wes agreed and withdrew the venusaur out of his box, and gave the ball to Krane.
"Thanks so much, Wes! Feel free to explore the facility. Unfortunately, I think our last spare bed was taken, but we have some extra linens so you can make that hover car at least half-comfortable."
"Thanks, Krane. I'm glad you made it back safe. See you tomorrow."
With that, Wes walked around to grab some blankets and pillows to sleep in the car.
Meanwhile, at the Cipher Key Lair, construction crews were hard at work to repair the damage that Krane and Wes had caused. Gonzap, overseeing most of the work into its restoration, received news from his right-hand man Wakin, that the hover car Wes had stolen had stopped at the very northwestern part of the region. He even provided a picture, and an exact location of the car.
"More specifically, the Pokemon HQ Lab, sir," Wakin said. Gonzap looked over the picture and thought to himself, You're finally mine. XD000 will end you.
END OF CHAPTER
Whoah! XD000? One before Shadow Lugia?! How could this be? Well, you'll have to find out next time!
Thank you guys for reading this, be sure to rate and review it, and let me know if you have any constructive criticism to make the story even better! Don't hesitate to tell me. If you have any suggestions for events to happen, don't hesitate to tell me your suggestions!