Part LXXXII: Illuminating a New Region

Ash, Misty, May and Max sat in the back of the plane on the way to Lumiose City in Kalos as they flew to the distant region. It was a week after Ash's party and the revelations that had shocked everyone but that was now in the past as they were finally on their way to Kalos for their adventure there.

It had taken a week to prepare everything they initially needed and to make sure that May and Misty knew what they had to do for the Committee that year, though mainly Misty as May already knew, until they were ready to leave. Lyra and Khoury had already left but they expected to run into the Johto couple while there. That meant that for the moment it was just the four of them making their way to the region that only May had been to before.

The party itself had been pretty standard after Brock's arrival but then again anything was normal compared to the sheer improbability of Brock getting engaged to a stunning woman and revealing it to everyone at once. Max had been returned by Croagunk as the meal was being served and from then on it was a normal and drama free party. Well other than Dawn grilling Lucy on her relationship with Brock to try and understand it.

After the mean they rated the food and voted on it with Brock winning by 12 votes to 8. It was mostly split by who they knew with Dawn, Max and Giselle being the only ones who knew Brock to vote against him with Dawn and Max only voting for Cilan because of Brock's surprise or Croagunk's attack. On the other hand, Iris had voted against Cilan despite being his assistant, though that might have been out of annoyance at making her his assistant.

After that it had been a simple night though Ash and Misty did recreate what they did the year before, after Ash explained what he knew about Lucy's Seviper, which meant that Dawn had to take Pikachu and Piplup for the night. Then in the morning it was the now traditional battles that they engage in the day after, starting with Ash and Max's differently styled full battle.

Their battle was effectively 6 one-on-one battles with the winner being the one who won the most matchups. If they had tied, then it would be a sudden death 7th matchup with one of their remaining Pokémon.

However, Ash had won 4 of the 6 battles, though Pikachu had fainted right after his win, including a thrilling one with Dragonite against Gardevoir that excited Iris and angered Georgia given the types involved. Max was initially dejected but as Ash pointed out that in a true full battle, Max's two remaining Pokémon would have taken down at least 2 more of Ash's Pokémon before the end which made Max happy.

The next battle had been the two-on-two battle that Lucy had challenged Misty to as a means of testing herself against someone who had bested Anabel, and to see how she faired against a Spiritomb. In what was a surprise to some but not Misty or Ash, Misty lost the battle, though not without coming very close to winning.

Misty's impressive run in normal battles was bound to end at some point, she couldn't keep it up forever. She'd only beaten Anabel with a mix of extremely good tactics and Anabel's own mistake while her win over Dawn in the Cerulean Gym was more due to Togekiss showing the first recorded instance of a fairy type's resistance to dragon type attacks.

Lucy was not a love rival and a very aggressive battler whose serpentine preference and all-out attack style was not what Misty was used to. While Misty had managed to beat Seviper with Spiritomb Lucy then shocked her with an Eelektross the only Pokémon, along with its earlier forms, remaining with no type weaknesses after fairy types came about.

Eelektross beat both Spiritomb, his first loss though not before forcing Misty to use his 4th move, and Typhlosion with the last battle being a quick, powerful brawl. Misty was close to winning but in the end the moves fell to Lucy and she won while being impressed by Misty's skills.

The rest of the day had been a series of battles between everyone else and good fun before they all went their separate ways. Those heading to new regions had set off early while those staying in Kanto stayed for a few more days before going back home or in Angie's case leaving with Dawn for her gym battle against the dark haired girl.

That had been the day before and now the last lot were on the move as they flew to Kalos. It had been decided before the party that Ash would only travel with Pikachu and Riolu as the latter was so new that Ash had to take it with him so as to give Riolu a true journey.

In that vein, Misty had decided to only take Piplup and Vulpix with the latter being the same reason as Riolu. She was taking Espeon as well for a bit as she needed her psychic type for something specific.

As for the Hoenn siblings, they had gone with different strategies. Max was only traveling with Gardevoir as she was his top Pokémon so as to start fresh in Kalos similar to how Ash did in most new regions he went to. After coming back for her as a Ralts they're bond had become so deep that he couldn't leave her at home, so she was always going to be with him.

May meanwhile still had her full team from her time in Kalos though she was going to send Glaceon back if she caught a new Pokémon while there. Like Ash and Misty, May was not parting with her starter Blaziken and as he was the only one who she had who could Mega Evolve she was keeping him at all times. She also couldn't part with Munchlax but that was more due to his bottomless stomach than anything else.

The other Pokémon with May were her 3 Kalos Pokémon she'd caught the year before. They were a Doublade that needed a Dusk Stone to evolve, a Slurpuff who was one of the reclassified pure fairy types having previously been a normal type, and a Tyrantrum which was the evolved form of her Tyrunt that had evolved shortly before she came to Kanto for the Grand Festival.

While May had no intentions of catching new Pokémon, though if she found one, she wanted, or that wanted her, she'd go for it, the others didn't. Ash and Misty both fully intended to catch several new Pokémon there while Max was likely going to exceed both of them as Kalos had Unova Pokémon present as well as Pokémon originally from Kalos, so he had a lot of catching up to do.

Of course all of that was still to come. They had to first reach Kalos and that meant planning for what happened when they landed in Lumiose City and what they were going to do in the city in the days to come. One thing Misty was really looking forward to though was her and Ash's one-year anniversary celebration in the city.

It was late by about a month, but they had been busy with preparing for the party and not near a metropolis like Lumiose City to truly celebrate it. That was why they were going to have a full date day there in a few days. The plan was simple, start with shopping as Misty had decided that she was going to get a new outfit for the year and figured getting it in Kalos made the most sense. That would be followed by a romantic dinner at one of the best restaurants in the city and probably a special night without any Pokémon present.

The latter wasn't hard as Lumiose City was known for its romantic restaurants; it was the former that Misty knew would be hard as a new look for everyday wear was going to take time to find. Still, she knew she would find it. Plus, Ash had a new look for Kalos, so she needed one as well. It was long overdue for an outfit change,

As with when he had gone to Hoenn, Sinnoh and Unova, Ash had changed up his outfit for Kalos. While they were in Kanto he'd worn his old Sinnoh outfit as he was with Misty for the journey but now it was time for a new outfit.

Ash's Kalos outfit consisted of a black t-shirt, a royal blue short sleeved full zipper sweatshirt with white trim and stripes along the shoulders and sleeves and gray cargo pants. Ash completed his look with red and black sneakers, black fingerless gloves with red cuffs and a red hat with a half white brim and a white arc in the center.

The one major thing that stood out though was Ash's Key Stone, a gift from May and one of the two things required for Mega Evolution, that was set into the back of Ash's right-hand glove. It had been part of a set along with a Charizardite Mega Stone for his Charizard as Professor Sycamore had the pair of stones and allowed May to give them to Ash.

Ash had only Mega Evolved Charizard once that year during the final matchup of his full battle with Blaine when Charizard faced his old rival Magmortar. Mega Evolution was banned in the Indigo Conference. It was a shame as it would have been useful when Charizard faced off against Brendan's Sceptile for the win in the final, though Brendan had a Key Stone and Mega Stone for Sceptile, so both of them had to go without it.

Ash didn't have Charizard on him, but the Key Stone was part of Kalos culture for trainers, May kept hers on a choker around her neck, so Ash had his on him just in case. It was also to give a report on it from his own perspective to Professor Sycamore when they met him as the result had not been what was expected.

Apparently, Ash's Mega Charizard had been different from the one that Professor Sycamore knew so wanted to discuss it with Ash when they met after landing. It seemed that there were two types of Charizardite, something that no one had expected so the Professor was keen to get Ash's experience with it.

First though, they had to land and plan for that. May had been tight lipped about it but now was the time to get it out of her as well as her suggestions for what to do once they set out on their Kalos adventure together. After all, she had spent a year here so she knew it best.

"Alright May what is the plan when we arrive?" Misty asked as she finished rereading the judging manual that she had to know for her job for the second time since getting it and getting all of their attention. "We should probably know that now."

"Oh, sorry I only heard back yesterday that everything was in order and I was waiting for that confirmation before telling you." May said. "We are being met in the airport by my friends Serena, Bonnie and Clemont. You and Ash have already met Serena but Max hasn't and none of you have met the other two so it will be nice to meet them as soon as we land."

"That's great I can't wait to meet your other friends." Ash said and Misty just nodded in agreement. "So they will greet us and then what?"

"Clemont is the Lumiose City Gym Leader so he will show us around the city with the others as we make our way to Professor Sycamore's lab." May explained. "He wants to meet you Ash as you know. You're Mega Charizard was different to his former assistant Alain's so he's really curious about it. Plus, all three of you have Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution so he wants to discuss that just in case you find the right Mega Stones."

"I do?" Misty asked surprised. "I wasn't aware I had any but then again we know so little about it."

"Your Banette and Pinsir can Mega Evolve." May said. "While Ash has a lot more with the potential to Mega Evolve and given how well Ash bonds with his Pokémon I expect most if not all of them can Mega Evolve for him."

"Oh that's great!" Misty said happily. "I'll have to find a Key Stone and some their Mega Stones this year if there is time."

"That is what Sycamore wants so he will try and help out." May said with a nod. "Though he currently has no idea where any new stones are."

"Wait which ones do I have?" Max asked curiously. "I know about Gardevoir, but do I have more than her?"

"Your Aggron and Swampert can as well." May said with a nod. "As Swampert is your starter you should have the bond to Mega Evolve him. I know you raised your Aggron from an Aron so I presume you have the bond with it as well, but I can't say for sure."

"That's fine, Gardevoir is my priority when it comes to Mega Evolution." Max said. "I know she can do it."

"So, Professor Sycamore has a fuller list then last time?" Ash asked. "Because you didn't know many who could back when you first told us about them out in Hoenn."

"Correct." May nodded. "There was a bit of an incident before the Lumiose Conference, just before I came to the Grand Festival, that almost destroyed Kalos and possibly the world. In the aftermath Alain, Professor Sycamore's former assistant who had helped the villainous team before realizing they were using him, provided a full list of all the Mega Pokémon he'd faced."

"Incident?" Misty asked incredulous by how nonchalant May was about it. "You never spoke of that. Incident seems a small term for something that almost destroyed a whole region."

"Well there isn't much to say." May said with a shrug. "It was the usual Ash level scenario. A villainous team, in this case called Team Flare, who tried to harness Mega Energy and a legendary Pokémon to take over Kalos and almost destroyed it in the process. The result was the leader, a man called Lysander, disappearing and a lot of weird vines around the region but it is all sorted out now."

"And the Professor's former assistant was involved?" Ash asked confused.

"Yeah he was initially helping Team Flare because his friend's Chespin, the grass starter here, was sick and under Lysander's care." May said. "He used Alain to get what he wanted but Alain realized his error at the end and with the aid of Diantha, the Kalos Champion, Stephen, the Hoenn Champion, all the gym leaders, Sycamore, Serena, Clemont and Bonnie's dad, and at least one member of the Elite Four we faced off against the threat."

"And I take it you won." Misty said. "Seeing as you're here and we're heading out to Kalos now."

"Yup, I basically just did what Ash would do to save the region." May said. "It took Alain's Mega Charizard an my Mega Blaziken to break through it, but we saved Chespin, who woke up from its coma, and Kalos wasn't destroyed."

"Wow sounds like you had all the fun last year May." Ash said amazed. "Our year was dull by comparison."

"Yeah, usually that is Ash's job to find these situations, not yours." Misty said with a chuckle.

"It was because of my experiences with Ash when we faced Teams Aqua and Magma in Hoenn that I knew what to do." May said with a shrug. "They also wanted to destroy the region with legendary Pokémon, so I had the experience. It all kinda came out of nowhere but we sorted it out. Alain was remorseful for his role and gave up his Key Stone and Charizardite to the authorities as he wanted to start over. He's returned to being the Professor's research assistant and is using the Anistar Sundial to find more Key and Mega Stones."

"I've heard the name Alain before." Ash said wracking his brain for where he'd heard it, but he couldn't recall where he'd heard it. "I just can't place it."

"He was Sabrina's friend that she made while she was in Kalos many years ago." Misty said as it came back to her. "She told us about him when we had tea with her after your battle."

"Oh yeah I remember now." Ash said as it all came back to him. "So, he's traveling the region then?"

"Yup, he and Mairin, Chespin's trainer, are working together to find Key and Mega Stones." May said with a nod. "I know he still bears a lot of guilt for his actions and is depressed but this should help him. The Anistar Sundial, which I can't really explain as it has to be seen to be understood, has Mega Energy in it and is now revealing Key and Mega Stones all over Kalos so Alain is using it to find them."

"Well, he'd certainly be someone useful to seek out if there is time." Max said. "If he knows where to find the stones it could be beneficial to all of us."

"Professor Sycamore has priority on that stuff, but I am sure he wouldn't mind if you got a Key Stone and Gardevoirite." May said. "He's also a strong trainer so worth a battle if you have time. He easily beat my Mega Blaziken the one time we battled."

"Sounds like someone to try and run into then, if there is time that is." Ash said instantly eager to battle this Alain kid and see how he stacked up against him. "Regardless, well done May in sorting out a problem like that."

"Thanks." May said with a slight blush that Misty noticed but ignored knowing that while May still liked Ash like that, she knew that Ash was Misty's and was going to be respectful of that. "If it wasn't for seeing how you'd dealt with it in the past I don't think I could have done it. It was a really scary experience, but I pushed through it and won."

"That's Ash for you." Misty said with a chuckle. "Always helping when he doesn't know it."

"So true." May said with a smile at her lost crush.

"Anyway." Ash said completely missing what was going on. "I want to hear more about the incident later but what are the other Mega Pokémon that you know about. I have Charizardite and I've seen the Mega Stones for Sceptile and Blaziken but what about the others? If I have more, I'd like to search for the Mega Stones if possible. They aren't a high priority but if we find one that is a big bonus."

"I checked the list and saw that you had a fair few on it." May said to him. "Pidgeot, Glalie, Heracross, Gengar, and Garchomp have known Mega Evolutions while Lucario does as well so if your Riolu evolves there's that one. However, I would warn you against trying to Mega Evolve Lucario unless you're in Shalour City."

"Why?" Ash asked confused.

"Because of all the Mega Evolutions Lucario's is the toughest to control." May said. "Something about the way the Mega Energy reacts with Lucario's aura makes it go berserk unless you have some kinda control that I don't understand. It happened to Korrine's Lucario when she first tried it, a few times in fact. We spent a few days with someone who understood Mega Evolution and managed to get it under control, but it took a lot of work."

"I see well that is something to address if the time comes then." Ash said. "I'll keep an eye out for the others though just in case we come across them. I intend to only use Pikachu, Riolu and any Pokémon I capture in Kalos this year though so it may be limited to whatever Pokémon I have on hand that can Mega Evolve. I'll still keep the stones for later use though but it won't be until after the year hence why it isn't a high priority."

"True, there are no known Pokémon native to Kalos that can Mega Evolve and only one to Unova, that being Audino." May said. "The rest are from Kanto and the 3 regions near it."

"That is odd." Max said. "I wonder why."

"It is a question that Sycamore is trying to answer." May said. "So, we can ask about that progress when we see him today."

"Makes sense." Misty said. "So after we meet him, what's the plan for the night? Like where are we staying? I know we are staying in Lumiose City for a few days, but you haven't said where?"

"Wouldn't we stay at the Pokémon Center as always?" Ash asked confused.

"Normally yes but I have friends there so I have set up a better place." May said with a grin. "We're staying at the Lumiose Gym while we're in the city and what a gym it is."

"Sweet." Ash said pumping his fist and annoying some nearby passengers but he didn't realize. "I can challenge Clemont right off the bat then and get my first gym badge early. This is the first time I'm arriving in a city with a gym so I can get started nice and early with a quick victory."

"Um actually Ash you can't." May said shaking her head and deflating his bubble. "Clemont's rules dictate that a trainer has three Pokémon and you only have 2. Even if you do catch a Pokémon in Lumiose City I wouldn't recommend facing it first."

"Why not?" Ash asked.

"Clemont is a good gym leader with strong Pokémon." May said simply. "And what's more, he's an electric type specialist so as good as Pikachu is you are going to need more than just him and Riolu to win this one. Whatever you catch will need to be experienced in battle to defeat him."

"I see that is annoying but I can understand that." Ash said with annoyance. "All gyms have their own rules but at least it's not some badge limit I need to get to face him."

"No Clemont got rid of that when he fixed Clembot last year." May said which caused Ash, Misty and Max to blink at her.

"Clembot?" Max asked. "I think you've mentioned that, but I can't recall the details."

"Oh, sorry should have mentioned it again." May said sheepishly. "I probably did mention it, but it was a while back. You see, Clemont is an inventor as well as a gym leader and one of his inventions, that went a little wrong at first but is fixed now, is a robot that serves as his backup gym leader."

"He has a robot as his backup?" Misty asked confused.

"Yup, fixing it was in fact how I got to know Clemont and Bonnie as I helped him get control of the gym back from a rogue Clembot." May said. "Most of last year saw Clembot lead the gym while Clemont and Bonnie traveled with me and Serena as he wanted to find himself and couldn't do it stuck at the gym. It was allowed for a year, but the Pokémon League is requiring Clemont has to stay and lead the gym this year full time if he wants to keep his position."

"I can see that, people don't want a gym leader to be missing all the time." Ash said with a nod of understanding. "We've seen the problems that a wayward gym leader can cause. It happened in Viridian and Hearthome City."

"Yeah at least Clemont had a backup." May said. "Initially he required 4 badges to face him but now he doesn't so you can face him as soon as you have 3 Pokémon, but I would recommend waiting until you have at least one gym badge, so your new Pokémon have experience."

"I'll go for at least three, if not four, first." Max said. "I could use the practice before I face Clemont."

"I guess it depends on our route." Ash said after a moment's thought. "I'd rather not keep coming back to Lumiose City multiple times especially if the Conference is there though as that could be annoying."

"Oh it is and so is the Grand Festival." May confirmed. "I can see why constantly coming back here could be frustrating, though Lumiose City is the center of the region, so I have an idea. The gym considered to be the easiest to face is the bug type gym in Santalune City run by a woman called Viola."

"And where is that?" Ash asked.

"The city is to the southeast of Lumiose City and not far, a few days walk at most, and there are plenty of wild Pokémon along the way." May said. "We can go there and then we can backtrack to Lumiose so you can face Clemont before heading west to Cyllage, Shalour and Coumarine Cities. They all have gyms and there are several Contests out that way for Serena to enter or us to judge. In fact, I believe the first Contest of the year is in Odyssey Village which is between Lumiose and Santalune City so if we time it right Serena can enter that as well."

"Alright it's settled then." Ash said even more excited for their journey now that they had a rough plan. "We get to Lumiose City, meet your friends, talk with Sycamore, spend a few days there sorting out what we need to do like getting me and Max registered for the Kalos League and then head to Santalune City. What could go wrong?"

"Ash this is you." Misty said a little worry in her voice at her boyfriend's sudden challenge to fate. "Anything could go wrong."

"Yeah you are a magnet for weird and one-off year is not enough to end it." May teased. "The world is probably preparing something extra special for you this year."

"True but I have a good feeling about this year." Ash said with a grin as the plane landed, their discussion distracting them from the descent as the intercom on the plane came to life to let them know that their journey had begun.

"Welcome to Lumiose City, the center of the Kalos Region."