Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 1, Episode 15, Chapter 1
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Saito, Louise, and their Pokémon were staring at the Mega Stone. The world around them seemed to blur and go out of focus as they concentrated on the crystal orb.
"Huh, what do ya know? Wonder how that got there," Derflinger muttered, rubbing his sash around his hilt's guards like one would rub their chin. He then turned towards the two trainers and asked, "Any reason why you two look like you've seen a ghost?"
"The last time I had a Mega Stone in my possession," Louise began after swallowing a lump in her throat, "we nearly died because it thought I was a keystone and caused a wild Beedrill to mega evolve."
Derflinger's eye widened, and he replied, "Oh yeah, I remember you guys mentioning that once or twice. Yep, I can see why that would make you nervous."
"Not the word I'd use," Saito muttered, then turned towards Louise. "What do you want to do? Part of me screams at me to leave it, but another is telling me to take it and find out what it is first."
'It might work for one of us,' Esprit pointed out.
Louise hummed in thought, and realized that her Kirlia was correct. Between both her and Saito, they had two Pokémon whose lines were capable of Mega Evolution, from what she had gathered the last time they were at Professor Sycamore's lab. At the moment, only Auspice could Mega Evolve if given the opportunity, but should Esprit, Maindo, and Tanuki reach their final stages, they would also be able to experience the phenomenon. Yet, she couldn't deny that keeping the Mega Stone in her possession without adequate safeguards was a recipe for disaster, one that she was keenly aware of.
Nodding to herself as she came to a decision, Louise turned towards Saito and their Pokémon then said, "Unless you guys say it's alright, I'm not taking it. Not after last time, even if it can work for one of our Pokémon."
Saito and the Pokémon softly smiled in appreciation, happy that she was taking them into account. As they thought and murmured among themselves, Derflinger asked, "Correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't the issue regarding the Mega Stone because you were carrying it around for about a week?"
"Yes, that's correct," Louise confirmed with a curt nod. "Professor Sycamore said it was because of the Faller energy radiating off of me due to my fall through Ultra Space as well as my Void Magic. When the two combined together, I practically turned into a keystone."
"Right, right," Derflinger muttered, nodding to himself. Then he glanced the Mega Stone while asking, "Then, say if someone else were to carry the Mega Stone, there'd be no issue, right?"
"…I suppose it would, yes," Louise admitted.
She had no idea just how far her keystone-like abilities extended (for all she knew, she could be viewed as one to the Mega Stone at that very moment), but assuming she only had to be in direct contact over a long period of time, having someone else carry it might mitigate the issue. Louise glanced at Saito who was clearly thinking the same thing, then he looked at her and nodded.
"I can carry it, at least to the Pokémon Center," he offered. "There we can call Professor Sycamore, have him analyze the thing, then figure out what to do after that."
"Hmm," Louise hummed to herself, tapping her chin. She looked at her Pokémon, who nodded in approval. Saito's did as well, although Maindo was clearly the most apprehensive about the entire thing. But, after how much of a jerk he had been ever since Saito caught him, she didn't much care about his opinion.
Finally, she said, "I'm fine with that."
Saito nodded, then he moved in front of Louise and gently grabbed the Mega Stone. Bringing it up to his face, he studied it for a moment as though he was trying to ascertain what Pokémon it applied to. From what he could see, the crystal, about the size of a baseball, was a swirl of varying shades of dark blue, which did nothing to hint as to what type of Mega Stone it was. Then he shrugged and placed it inside his backpack, figuring they could figure it out at the Pokémon Center. After zipping it back up, he turned towards Louise who had stood back up as well, then the two trainers and their Pokémon walked back towards Geosenge Town.
"You found a Mega Stone?" Professor Sycamore asked over the Pokémon Center's video phone. It was already nighttime in Lumiose, judging by how dark the sky was outside of the Professor's window, yet he was wide awake. A steaming cup of coffee could be seen on the wooden desk behind him, and more than a few more were scattered haphazardly around the place. Some even managed to make it inside the trashcan, which Louise could only roll her eyes at. Clearly, in her absence he had not learned the value of tidying up after himself.
"Yes, but we don't know what type it is," Louise replied while Saito held up the gem. "We were hoping you might be able to provide some insight."
"Well, I am the resident expert on Mega Evolution," Professor Sycamore bragged haughtily, which caused both Saito and Louise to narrow their eyes at him. Ignoring their annoyed looks, he chuckled before becoming more serious and asking, "Have you had any…incidents with it?"
"Not yet, thank the Founder," Louise answered. "I haven't touched it at all."
"Good," Professor Sycamore replied. "I haven't finished the protective casing yet, and I probably won't until you get back to Lumiose, but until then I advise you not to touch any Mega Stones you find. Saito carrying it should be fine, though."
"That's a relief," Saito said, then stated, "Back to why we called; is there any way you can tell us what type of stone this is? I mean, don't get me wrong. It's pretty to look at, but if it doesn't apply to one of our Pokémon, I don't see any reason for us to carry it around."
"I wouldn't blame you," Sycamore admitted and nodded. "Luckily, a few years ago I had special devices installed in all Pokémon Centers that can tell you what type of stones they are. Ask Nurse Joy and she'll take you to them. Call me back when you get the results."
"Will do. Thank you, Professor," Louise said, then she and Saito hung up and walked back towards the front counter.
They explained their situation to Nurse Joy, who immediately understood and escorted them to a back room. Inside the back room, illuminated by white fluorescent lights was a circular podium with a slight indent in the center attached to the side of the phone they were using. Above it was a sliding glass cylinder that housed a three pronged apparatus, clearly meant to scan the Mega Stone in close detail.
"Well, I guess all we have to do is put it in and turn it on," Louise noted after briefly studying the contraption.
Saito nodded in agreement, then placed the Mega Stone on the indent. Pressing his finger against a red button, he and Louise saw the glass cylinder descent and encase the Mega Stone complete. A moment later, the apparatus came alight as electrical sparks shot out and connected each prong to the Mega Stone. The arcs of electricity moved back and forth across the surface of the Mega Stone, a process which took at least ten minutes. Occasionally, the sparks would shift colors, starting at blue then turning to yellow, purple, red, and more. Finally, the sparks disappeared and the glass cylinder rose up, and on the corner of the screen they saw a readout of the results.
"Well, what do you? It's an Absolite," Saito read aloud. Louise's thoughts immediately drifted towards Auspice, as did Saito's. Figuring that they should call Professor Sycamore back before discussing anything else, they returned to the Center's phone and called him back.
"This means I can Mega Evolve Auspice," she declared after finishing her explanation, and Professor Sycamore nodded.
"Yes, I believe you can. Whether or not you should, however, is up for debate," he said, his brow furrowed.
"Yeah…" Louise breathed out, unsure of what to do. Part of her wanted to try, but the rest was saying it was too risky.
Then, Professor Sycamore added, "Of course, that Beedrill was wild, and Auspice has been with you for some time. Any potential risks should be mitigated by that alone."
"How would that solve anything?" Saito asked, not as familiar with the subject as the rest of the party was.
Derflinger then answered, "Here's the thing, kid. Mega Evolution isn't a seamless process with no downsides. If done improperly, the Pokémon goes berserk, which you guys know firsthand. Trained Pokémon tend to not have as many issues with it, but if the bond between trainer and Pokémon isn't strong enough…"
"They lose control," Professor Sycamore finished.
"Aye. I've seen that happen more times than I can count, and it's never pretty," Derflinger somberly declared, then turned towards Louise. "You need to be damned sure you and Auspice have a strong enough bond even attempting that in a battle, girly."
Louise nodded in agreement, then hummed and rubbed her chin once again. While tapping her finger, she stated, "I couldn't agree more, but at the same time, if I can get Mega Evolution to work, it would help me tremendously towards my goal. I want to try it, but not if it risks hurting someone else."
"Perhaps a trial run, then?" Saito suggested. "We could find an arena and try it out. If things go wrong, we know what to expect this time and can act accordingly. It's not like we're going in blind this time."
"And perhaps you and Auspice are close enough to where such caution isn't warranted," Sycamore added. "If the relationship between you two is anything like you and Brennaraki, I have no worries."
"Thank you," Louise said with a soft smile, then she nodded. "Alright, I say we do it. If it works, great. If not, we'll send it to you, Professor, for safekeeping. Does that work?"
"Sounds good to me," Professor Sycamore answered with a nod. "Let me know how it turns out."
"We will, Professor. Thank you," Louise replied. Both parties exchanged farewells, then they hung up. After a moment, Saito patted Louise comfortingly on her shoulder, and together the two walked out of the Pokémon Center towards an open-air battlefield they had passed on the way back.
With the sun beginning to set beyond the horizon, Saito and Louise stood at one end of an outdoor arena found near their hotel. All of their Pokémon were standing nearby, while Louise sat on her knees next to Auspice. She was nervous, as were the others, yet at the same time felt a twinge of excitement.
'This is a bad idea,' Maindo declared with a huff.
"Maybe," Tanuki replied with a shrug, "but we won't know unless we try. Better to figure things out now before someone gets hurt."
'And risk getting killed again?" Maindo shot back. 'That's been happening a lot to us lately.'
"You weren't even there last time we had a mega stone, Maindo," Brennaraki pointed out, growling softly.
'Then you should understand exactly what I'm talking about. The last time you guys messed with one of those things, a wild Pokémon nearly killed you. Forgive me for not wanting to die today because a little girl wanted to leap before looking, again.'
Louise frowned, having clearly heard Maindo's biting comment, and Brennaraki snarled in response. Before she could say anything else, however, Ronin spoke up.
"I believe that 'wild' is the key word here," the Dewott suggested. "Auspice clearly is not, and I like to believe that she and Louise will be able to pull this off successfully."
"Assuming it even works," Aile added. "I'm not gonna try and pretend that I understood what exactly happened, but I do know that Louise held on to that thing for, like, a week before it did anything. She's had this Absolite for an hour, tops, and has only been holding onto it for about ten minutes. Probably won't do anything."
"Perhaps, but if it does work and things do, unfortunately, go wrong, we'll be ready," Ronin said, giving a gentle nod towards the trainers. "Last time it was so bad because we didn't know what to expect. This time, however, we do."
Maindo rolled his eyes and turned away, not believing the others for a single second. The other Pokémon frowned in his direction before turning back towards Saito and Louise, who were finishing up their preparations.
"This should hold it," Saito announced as he wrapped a line of rope around Auspice's neck, with a loop in the middle to hold the Absolite in place like an amulet. After securing it with a few knots, he backed away and gave Louise and Auspice some space to work.
Taking a deep breath to calm her nerves, Louise smiled at Auspice and whispered, "Alright, girl. You ready?"
Auspice nodded, placing her paw on Louise's chest in order to comfort her. Louise's smile grew at the affectionate gesture, then she got up and backed away. The greyish-blue gemstone sparkled slightly in the sunlight, and Louise tried to figure out what to do next. Admittedly, she had thought that the mega stone would have activated once it was placed into contact with Auspice's body, but clearly that wasn't the case. She tapped her chin and hummed, walking around Auspice in an attempt to see things from a different angle.
'Wow, this is amazing! Never seen anything like it!' Maindo called out tauntingly, but Louise ignored him.
"Hmm, what to do?" she asked herself as she finished her circle around Auspice, who was standing straight up proudly.
"Perhaps you can try using a spell on it," Derflinger suggested. "Might give it a kick."
"Are you telling me to blow up my Pokémon?" Louise asked, raising an eyebrow and frowning towards the Honedge. Auspice was doing the same, while he shook his head.
"No, not that. Well…maybe a tiny one, but…" When Louise's scowl deepened, Derflinger chuckled nervously and shifted course. "Okay, that may have come out wrong."
"You think?" Saito said, crossing his arms and giving the Honedge a disapproving look.
"Right…" Derflinger paused to collect his thoughts, then looked back at Louise. "What I mean is that you could try casing a few spells round Auspice. The void magic just might activate it."
Louise thought the suggestion over, then nodded. There was no harm in trying, she thought, and pulled out her wand. Pointing away from Auspice, but aiming at a spot that was relatively nearby, she cast, "Brick Break."
As soon as the words left her mouth, a series of small explosions followed by one slightly bigger one rang out across a second of the arena's sandy floor. Puffs of sand billowed upward into the air, but Louise wasn't focused on that. Instead, she focused on the Absolite, and to her amazement she noticed a faint glow.
"It's working!" Saito shouted out. "Try a few more!"
Nodding towards her best friend, Louise complied and cast a few more spells. Tiny explosions rang out across the arena, sounding like small firecrackers. With each one, the mega stone's glow intensified until it reached a point where the glow was like a small star. Then, the glow flowed outward onto Auspice's body, and Louise casting spells to focus on her Pokémon. When the glow subside, Louise beheld the changed appearance of her Pokémon with wonder in her eyes.
The first change she noticed was that Auspice's hair was noticeably longer, standing on end especially on the legs and back, which at first glanced looked like angelic wings. Her horn had grown wider and longer, and a second smaller horn had popped out on the opposite side of her head. Her tail had shifted from looking like a scythe to looking more like a saw, and the oval marking on her forehead had turned into an upside-down triangle.
"Whoa…" Louise faintly gasped. To her, Auspice was always was beautiful Pokémon, but this form seemed to rise beyond that. She truly looked an angel, now, yet that nervousness ebbed back up when she noticed that Auspice's eyes were tightly closed.
"Auspice, are you okay, girl?" Louise asked, keeping her wand on her side. A heavy silence followed everyone held their breath, waiting to see how Auspice would react. Then, she opened her eyes, and Auspice gave Louise a soft smile which caused the trainer to release her breath.
"Oh, thank the Founder. It worked," she declared, bringing her hand to her chest. Auspice nodded in agreement, then patted the dirt underneath her enlarged claws to show that she wanted to test her newfound strength. Smiling and nodding towards her Pokémon, Louise pointed at a target they had up previously and ordered, "Alright, Auspice. Let's try things out with a Night Slash!"
Crouching low and smirking, Auspice's horn glowed a deed purple as she charged towards the target. As she drew near, she reared her head back then sliced her horn into the target, which promptly disintegrated from the impact.
"Oh hoho! That was awesome!" Saito cheered. "Try a special move this time!"
"You got it!" Louise exclaimed, feeling the excitement coursing through her. She pointed at another target and ordered, "Use Shadow Ball!"
Auspice complied, forming a concentrated orb of Ghost-type energy on her forehead. The ball grew larger and more energetic than what they usually did, and when it finally fired, it did so with enough force to kick up the send underneath its path. It went right through the target, reducing it to ash before impacting onto the outer concrete wall of the sunken arena and cracking the stone.
"Yes!" Louise shouted, pumping her fist. She was overjoyed that her test was proving to be a success. Auspice was smiling as well, although she was now beginning to wince as though she was feeling a monstrous headache. Louise, however, did not notice her Pokémon's present and growing discomfort, too drunk on her success.
"Alright, Auspice. Let's do one more test!" she declared, pointing to a third and final target. "Destroy that target with Shadow Claw!"
Despite wincing from her increasingly painful migraine, Auspice complied and rushed towards the target as her claws glowing purple, dark wisps of black smoke spewing out of it. She swiped her claws into the target, shredding it completely while at the same time carving deep scars into the dirt. Louise cheered towards her Pokémon, but then she and the others noticed Auspice lean down and clutch her head with her paw.
"Auspice, are you okay?" Louise asked, rushing over to provide her Pokémon with assistance, only for the Absol's wings to pop up and angle towards her. She and the others felt a fearsome aura permeate through her body, one that made her stop in her tracks. Only Derflinger was unaffected, who immediately shot down and placed himself between Louse and Auspice protectively.
When Auspice finally stood up, she slowly turned towards Louise, and her eyes were narrowed and filled with uncontrolled rage.
"Oh no…" Louise muttered, completely horrified, but before she could grab Auspice's Pokéball to return her, Auspice attacked.
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Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Outsiders! Special thanks to Darwin Candidate, Grendel4823, and Yuri Vampire for their assistance in bringing this chapter to life.
Louise and Auspice were able to successfully mega evolve, but unfortunately that success was shortlived. Now a fight has broken out against a berserk Auspice, and how that will play out will be revealed in the next few chapters.
Now, for the Q&A:
Celestia's Paladin: Thank you. I adore writing our favorite little spitfire. As for what Gene will evolve into, that will be revealed in due time.
Thanos Cradik: Well, she did. Are you happy now?
Steelrain66: It was an Absolite, and while it did work at first, as you can see it didn't last. How, exactly, that happened will be revealed in the next chapter.
.549: Why Maindo acts the way he does will be revealed in the next few chapters. It's all coming to a head now. I'm glad you liked the crystal scene. I really try to emphasize the wonder that is the Pokemon world in this story. As for the accented 'e', I had it autocorrect on Word after copy/pasting it once. Saves a lot of time and hassle.
keybladelight: Yeah, Derflinger remembers some pretty tragic things. I wanted to show that in the chapter, that he's more than just a talking sword with a penchant for dirty jokes. Glad to hear that you like the development going on with Saito's and Louise's character. We wanted to make sure things go nice and steady for them.
Vein Bloodborne: Glad you liked the Derflinger focus. You can expect more of it as time goes on.
That's it for this chapter. Hope you guys enjoy and let us know what you all think!
