Draco: The whole "Pokémon Centers as inns" concept is one of those things where a large portion of the fandom seems to share the same headcanon, and I'm not the exception on this one. Originally, I envisioned it as a Trainer getting to book a bed in a communal room, but after a conversation with a friend of mine, I came to realize that such a thing only really makes sense for Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, being as those four regions are all based on areas in Japan. I'm taken to understand that, in most of the other countries that have inspired Pokémon regions, the idea of getting a bed in the same room as a bunch of strangers is very unusual.

Pokémon and protagonist © Nintendo. Character designs © Koei. Ransei © somewhere in the middle.

Snowbelle: Worship the Ashes

"I find it hard to believe that Trainers regularly travel through terrain as unforgiving as that," Kenshin mused.

"I find it hard to believe that you two chose to go through it on foot," Serena argued. "There was no need to ninja your way across all that ice. I'm sure Mamoswine could've handled us."

"Three humans and two Pokémon?" Hanzō argued.

"Still," Serena protested. "Even if it was too much for him to carry all in one go, I think multiple trips would have been safer than all that climbing. Both of your outfits are full of snow, it's a wonder you're not even shaking."

Kenshin shrugged. "Warrior's discipline," he insisted.

"Well, Warrior's discipline isn't gonna stop you from getting frostbite if we go straight into the Winding Woods with that much snow in your pants," Serena insisted. "We'll get a couple rooms at the Pokémon Center so you two can defrost everything."

"Very well," Kenshin conceded. "Let us at least-"

He was cut off when a tone emerged from Serena's Holo Caster. "Oh, come on," she muttered, drawing out the device, "who's sending me Holo Clips now?"

She triggered the projector, and an image appeared of a pink-haired woman sporting reflective sunglasses. "Serena. I need to speak with you. There are reports of you travelling south through Couriway Town, so you can meet me at the gate to Victory Road."

"What the hell do you want that's so important that you need to speak with me in person?" Serena muttered. Hitting the record feature; "Malva, I'm in Snowbelle City. If it's so urgent for you, you can meet me at the entrance to Route 20 tomorrow morning." She ended the recording and sent it before returning the Holo Caster to her bag.

"Are you sure that was wise?" Kenshin asked. "When Emma needed your help..."

Serena cut him off. "I know them both," she insisted, "and I know how they act. Emma doesn't call me just for nothing, but Malva's different. If it was important, she would have said so. The fact that she's just trying to tell me to go to a place that's convenient for her means that it's a personal matter for her."

+x+x+x+

They did indeed find the pink-haired woman waiting at the forest's edge the next day.

"You've got some nerve asking me to come all the way out here," Malva snapped.

Serena rolled her eyes. "I thought maybe seeing the Warriors who I'm trying to send home might convince you I've more important things to do. You couldn't wait a day?"

"Warriors?" Malva narrowed her gaze at Kenshin's spear. "How in the world did a bunch of artifacts like you end up in Kalos?"

"My best guess would be a sinister machination of some sort," Kenshin admitted, "but, Hanzō?"

"...Interdimensional crisis, perhaps," Hanzō suggested.

Malva narrowed her gaze. "Are you done being sarcastic?"

"Bold of you to assume sarcasm when faced with a serious hypothesis," Kenshin proclaimed. "We've had to deal with with interdimensional crises before, and sinister machinations are hardly rare in any region."

"What do you want, Malva?" Serena demanded.

With a sigh, Malva stepped forward, holding a small box. "I want you to take this to Shalour City as soon as you're done in the village," she demanded.

"Shalour?" Serena echoed. "What in the world would..." Realization struck, and she opened the box in shock; Kenshin glanced over her shoulder to find a ring like one might offer for betrothal, though the prismatic stone set into it was unusually large for a proposal. "Wait, is this...?"

"Lysandre's," Malva's confirmed. "I confiscated it from some Team Flare remnants that I ran into in Geosenge."

"Ah la vache," Serena exclaimed. "They must have dug their way to him and... pulled it right off of his finger."

Kenshin started. "Robbing the dead?! What sort of despicable creature-"

"I've dealt with them," Malva insisted. "But I wouldn't be surprised if they managed to pass word before I did. That's why I want you to do it quickly. Do whatever you need to do for these Warriors, and then go straight to Shalour and give it to the guru."

Serena closed the box. "I will."

Malva stepped past them with a huff, and Serena turned to Kenshin and Hanzō. "Stay close to me," she insisted. "They don't call Route 20 the Winding Woods for nothing."

The trio stepped into the forest, with Gallade and Gengar following close behind. Immediately, it became abundantly clear how one might get lost in this wood; the trees grew so tightly together that very little sunlight reached the earth through the leaves, and often restricted travel to rather tight paths that forced the five of them into single-file procession.

"...May I ask who this 'Team Flare' is?" Kenshin asked.

"Like you said, sinister machinations aren't rare," Serena mused. "Damn near every region has had some criminal organization causing trouble in recent history, and Team Flare did it in Kalos. They were amassing money and resources in an effort to activate the ultimate weapon - a terrible creation from three thousand years ago."

Hanzō turned to her. "What did this 'weapon' do?"

Serena sighed. "An ancient king created it to bring someone back to life... and then repurposed it to end the war that killed her. It can grant eternal life - or at least an eternal lifespan - to anyone the user wishes, as well as commit massacre on an enormous scale. Lysandre would have used it to destroy all life on the planet, save for himself and the rest of Team Flare."

"Right up until you and the rest of your do-gooders got in our way."

The utterance from nearby brought the procession to a halt; everyone turned to find five Trainers standing there. They were clad in suits that would have looked formal if they weren't bright fiery orange; each's eyes were masked by a pair of sunglasses in the same colour, and even their hair bore the same igneous hue. Peeking out from beneath each suit jacket was a white undershirt bearing the same emblem - a seemingly indistinct wisp of the same orange colour that might have been meant to be an overly stylized F.

Gallade promptly raised his arms in a fighting stance, and Gengar started to drift forward before Serena raised her hand. "Don't," she insisted. "These ones are mine." She reached for her belt, seizing a Poké Ball and holding it before herself. "Let me guess - you think you're going to take back what Malva took from your friends in Geosenge."

"Oh, someone's confident," scorned the woman at the fore. "Let's see how long that lasts you!"

Each of the five suit-clad Trainers hurled a Poké Ball of their own forward at the same time as Serena threw hers. A Venusaur emerged from the lone Ball, and found himself faced with no less than five Liepard surrounding him. Faced with such unfair numbers, Kenshin was about to disregard Serena's insistence and urge Gallade forward before he realized that Venusaur was wearing something.

A black band was bound around his bud, and mounted on the fore of it was a gleaming blue stone, contained within which was a twist of pink and green.

Serena raised her left arm before her, and it was only now that Kenshin took notice the black wristlet that she wore around that wrist. Mounted on it was a prismatic stone, the same as in the ring that Malva had given her, and now she brought her right hand around to touch that stone with two fingers. Something reacted on the stone Venusaur was wearing, and the suited Trainers all stepped back in concern as a light emerged from Serena's stone; she thrust her hand skyward, and that same light began to shine from Venusaur's stone, quickly intensifying to wrap him in a crystalline sphere.

Then the sphere shattered, and Venusaur was changed - the foliage upon his back had expanded, vines hanging from his bud and his leaves acquiring branches from which to hang. His skin tone had shifted, and flowers had bloomed upon his fore and his rear; he gave a loud cry, and it echoed with power.

His Trainer swept her arm back, and then swung it forward. "Wipe them out!"

The horde of Liepard all leapt at Venusaur with angry yowls - but the changed Seed Pokémon only shook, and flower petals began to scatter around him with all the force of a snowstorm. None of the attacking Dark-types could land a blow before the Petal Blizzard slammed into them all - and threw them back towards their Trainers, unconscious.

The besuited Trainers all withdrew their Pokémon, displaying varying degrees of panic as they made to step back... and then scattered with various terrified yells.

"...Team Flare, I presume?" Hanzō inquired.

Gengar smacked him in the back of the head for his nonchalance.

"The grunts, at least," Serena confirmed.

Venusaur turned with a cry of protest as his change began to recede.

"That power..." Kenshin stepped forward. "Was that... Mega Evolution?"

Serena turned to him in surprise. "You know of it?"

"Only by chance," the Illusian admitted. "The requisite stones are not to be found in Ransei. But Ranmaru and his Lucario managed to find a matching pair, during the interdimensional crisis I mentioned earlier. Nobunaga later shared the name that he had learned in Trainer lands, and spread that information throughout Ransei - along with the knowledge that Ranmaru would not be wielding it without due cause, unless invited."

"I see," Serena mused. "I suppose it makes sense. A Warrior's Link would by nature mean that any of their Pokémon would have the trust necessary for Mega Evolution."

Kenshin turned to her. "Then that ring that Malva gave you..."

Serena nodded. "A Mega Ring that Lysandre used," she confirmed. "The guru in Shalour City is the Kalosian authority regarding Mega Evolution. His family is the keeper of Key Stones here in Kalos, and Malva would have me take this one back to him."

She raised Venusaur's Poké Ball, to which he returned. "Let's go - the Pokémon Village isn't far."

+x+x+x+

Indeed it was not; the group soon emerged from the Winding Woods, and found themselves in an expansive field of grass, leading to a river flowing from a waterfall. Several wild Pokémon were visible throughout, mostly minding their own business, though the emergence of the group of humans did prompt a few of them to scatter who were particularly near their point of ingress.

"Not much of a village," Hanzō observed.

"Maybe not by human standards," Serena admitted. She started to lead them through; as Kenshin and Hanzō followed her, some of the surrounding Pokémon started to warily approach. "This place is a kind of haven for Pokémon. There's a superstition that the reason the Winding Woods are so... winding is because they'll drive off the sort of selfish humans that see Pokémon as tools. The kinds of people that drove most of these Pokémon to come here."

"Abusers," Kenshin mused.

Serena turned to him. "You run into people like that in Ransei, too?"

"Less so, of late," Kenshin admitted. "But it was not all that long ago that so many people - so many Warriors - single-mindedly sought the greatest glory in the region... even to the point of thinking their Pokémon only served to benefit them."

"Even Warriors?" Serena echoed. "How does that work with a Link?"

"Much the same way as it works with a lover, I imagine," Kenshin observed. "It doesn't start out cruel; it starts with understanding, and connection. But over time, the true colours bleed through, and eventually it leads to suffering. If it's been long enough, it takes a certain strength to comprehend that what's happening is wrong, and to end it."

"Hatched Destruction," Serena cursed.

Kenshin nodded. "Indeed. Discovering how widespread the problem was drove a great Warlord to desperation. Now we seek to curb such mistreatment before it begins - and punish those who would propagate it."

"Pardon," Hanzō insisted, "you said 'most' of the Pokémon here?"

Serena nodded. "Right. There's always an exception. Some of the Pokémon here came because they feel like they don't belong anywhere else. Whether because of their nature... or because of their strength."

They were at the shore of the river, now - and they could see a cave, set into the cliff face down which the waterfall flowed.

"You suggested that a powerful enough Psychic-type Pokémon might be able to Teleport you back to Ransei," Serena recalled. "There's only one Psychic-type in Kalos that could possibly be strong enough - and it's in there. But even assuming your theory is right, the chances of-"

"Hmm..." Kenshin's hum caught Serena off-guard; he stepped towards the water's edge, a wry smile on his face. "So... this is where you come when Illusio doesn't suit your fancy..."

A figure emerged from the cave's mouth - a humanoid and yet feline Pokémon in pale grey, with three-fingered hands and a long, flexible purple tail.

"...Mind Master."

He raised his hand, and Mewtwo raised his own... and the glow of a Link appeared above the water between them.

"You've got to be kidding me," Serena exclaimed. "You already have a Link with Mewtwo? With this Mewtwo, specifically?"

"I'm as surprised as you are," Kenshin insisted. "He admitted his origins were unnatural, artificial, but I'd never thought he originated in Trainer lands." Mewtwo approached, hovering over the water on psychic power, and Kenshin lowered his hand. "I imagine you know why we're here."

Mewtwo nodded solemnly.

"Confident," Kenshin observed. "Wonderful. Then-"

"Wait," Serena insisted, drawing his attention. "If you're..." She reached into her bag, drawing out the box that Malva had given her. "Take this."

"The Mega Ring?" Kenshin was shocked by the offer.

Serena nodded. "You're going to be warping back into something terrible, I know it. You never every bit of power you can muster. Mega Evolution included."

Kenshin narrowed his gaze as he accepted the box, popping it open. "I understand that Mega Evolution requires two stones - one each for human and Pokémon."

"I have them," Serena insisted. "There are Mega Stones that resonate with Mewtwo - I've triggered his Mega Evolution before. And I can even-" She was cut off by the ringing of her Holo Caster, looking down irritably. "Oh, come on!" she protested. "Who is it this time?"

She drew out the device and turned it on - and a very large face was projected from it.

Hanzō started. "AZ?"

"Serena. I understand the Warrior has awoken. If you've yet to find a path by which he might return home, then come find me in Azure Bay. If you have found a path, then I only hope that he has not yet departed. Please pass on to him this message: do not hurry to return home, but first send him to a region alike to Kalos. There are others who have been so displaced."

The projection vanished, and Serena lowered the device. "I didn't know he had a Holo Caster," she admitted. "What in the world is he talking about? A 'region alike to Kalos'... is he talking about Hoenn? Because there are people who can wield Mega Evolution in Hoenn?" She glared at her Holo Cater. "Why wouldn't you just say that, you old tyrant!? Who in the world would-"

"Nemesis," Kenshin realized. "Then he did suffer a similar fate." He turned to Mewtwo. "Could you take us to Hoenn, and still have the strength to return us to Ransei?"

Mewtwo nodded.

"Quoi!?" Serena's exclamation drew their attention back to him. "You're telling me there's someone who might be stranded in Hoenn, and you're actually going to go help him? This man you call your nemesis?"

A smirk rose on Kenshin's face. "He began as such, at least," he admitted. "And our clashes have spanned the length and breadth of Ransei. Yet after five-hundred and ninety-eight fights have resulted in five-hundred and ninety-eight draws..."

Serena's jaw fell open.

"...I suppose I've come to consider him a good friend."

Draco: Oh, yes. I'll be damned if I don't show off some Mega Evolution in a story I'm writing during the lead-up to the next Pokémon game to feature Mega Evolution. I haven't decided yet which Mega Mewtwo I'm going to have Kenshin fighting alongside, and I'm actually flirting with the idea of him alternating, so I'm gonna give gameplay details for both at the same time, just to be safe.

Mega Metwo X
-Range: 4
-Move: Psystrike | Drain Punch
-Ability: Thrust

Mega Mewtwo Y
-Range: 4
-Move: Psystrike | Future Sight
-Ability: Perception

Drain Punch (Fighting)
-Attack area: single tile in front
-Effect: Restores the users' HP by half the damage taken by the target