Chapter two

The professor's assistant

Exciting times were on the horizon in the Kalos region with the discovery of Mega evolution. Hoping to learn more about this new phenomenon, was the new professor of the region, Professor Sycamore. Young and eager to prove himself he fully dedicated himself to his research. His reputation for his work ethic had spread among the professors across every region, including Professor Rowan.

"Thank you so much Professor Rowan, I'll get to work right away," the professor said enthusiastically. As he hung up the phone his research assistant, Alain, walked in the door.

"You just can't say no to work can you" he said with a slight laugh.

"Well, it's all thanks to you I can take on all this extra work"

"What do you need me to get started on"

"You should take the morning off"

Alain looked confused, "But the phone call… isn't there work to be done"

"Oh that, it won't be in for a while, Professor Rowan is having one of his trainers hand deliver it. You should go out and enjoy yourself you've more than earned it"

"But why, we could have already started if he emailed it over"

Professor smiled, thinking to himself 'Oh Alain always the practical thinker'

"I think you'll understand when we get the research. All the more reason you should take a break. I'm sure this will keep us busy for quite a while. So go out and have fun while you can. Although… he did mention it's a young girl making the delivery, unless you'd like to stay around and meet her." He mockingly said knowing how shy Alain was in these matters.

Alain went pale as a ghost. The professor couldn't help but laugh. "Don't worry I'm only teasing you. Although it wouldn't kill you to get to know some people your own age"

"I'll gonna go take Charizard for some training" Alain spluttered out while running out the door to avoid further embarrassment.

As much as the professor appreciated his assistant's work ethic, he cared for him on a personal level. He wanted Alain to be able to relax and enjoy life. But given his own work ethic, he wasn't sure how to show him there is more to life than work.

As soon as Alain made it outside the lab, he released his Charizard and jumped on his back. Charizard whipped his head around confused by the rash actions of his typically restrained and poised trainer. Alain could sense the confusion of his Pokémon.

"Everything's fine Charizard, the professor gave me the morning off so I thought we would fly to the sea spirits den for some training. What better way than to face Pokémon with a type advantage" he spoke reassuringly.

Charizard nodded his head in acknowledgement and began to take off. While high in the sky everything was peaceful. Having a Pokémon as fearsome as Charizard made sure the path was clear. Few Pokémon were in the sky and those who were flew away for fear of battle.

"Alright Charizard, there it is, start descending"

As they landed Alain jumped off his Pokémon and began to assess the area.

"Perfect, the island is clear, why don't you rest while I start fishing. Hopefully, I can reel in some Gyarados"

Charizard walked to the cave entrance and lay down making sure his tail was inside the cave to protect the flame on the flame on his tail while Alain began fishing.

A few hours passed and only weak Pokémon were biting. Alain saw no point in waking Charizard, so he released them back into the ocean. He took out his phone to check for any messages from Professor Sycamore hoping he was called back to the lab. But there was nothing.

Suddenly he noticed ripples in the water and the waves coming in faster and faster. So, he walked to the other side of the cave and finally saw a Gyarados approaching them.

"Charizard" Alain shouted, "get ready". His Pokémon shot up and immediately went to his trainer's side. Seeing that large Pokémon coming in fast, Charizard let out a roar and took a defensive stance making sure to protect his trainer from incoming attacks.

Gyarados began to slow down and lower its head to reveal a trainer, upon seeing this Alain had his Charizard stand down. The mystery trainer jumped off and swam the rest of the way to the island.

A young woman emerged from the sea wearing a deep blue swimsuit and blonde hair tied up in a bun. "Well, hey there, wasn't expecting to see anyone out here, that's one fine-looking Charizard you got"

"Thanks were honoured by your words of praise"

"The names Astrid by the way, wanna have a battle" The girl asked.

"Well, I was planning on having Charizard fight water Pokémon today, I'm assuming you're a water type specialist, but that intention was meant for wild Pokémon. I only fight trainers with a mega…"

Alain stopped speaking as Astrid pulled out her hair clip letting her hair down and revealing a mega stone.

"Alright we'll fight but let we shall both use mega evolution right away"

"Straight to the point, I like that. Gyarados you ready, mega evolve" Gyarados threw its head back and roared. It became enveloped in a bright light and emerged as mega Gyarados.

"Impressive, I've never seen a mega Gyarados before. Now it's our turn, Keystone respond to my heart, mega evolve" Charizard became a black dragon with blue flames. Pokémon locked eyes ready for their trainer's commands.

"Alright Charizard, we may be at a type disadvantage so let's claim some advantage back, fly up".

"Ha you think you'll be safe up there, Gyarados use ice beam"

"Charizard counter with flamethrower". As the two moves connected, there was an explosion that left a cloud of smoke. With Charizard now black it was the perfect camouflage. It swept in with dragon claw, taking Gyarados by surprise.

Gyarados was lifted out of the water by the force. As its head was thrown back its tail emerged from the water. Astrid shouted "Quick Gyarados grab him with your tail"

Charizard let out a cry of pain as it was grabbed by Gyarados tail and squeezed tight.

"Now hit it with iron tail"

Alain's fist clenched in frustration, but his face didn't show it. "Charizard fight back with fire fang" With the attack Charizard was able to free his arms as Gyarados grip loosened. "Now hit it with thunder punch and free yourself"

Gyarados released Charizard after being hit by a super-effective attack.

"Very clever, but don't think you're safe, Gyarados use surf. A massive wave emerged from the ocean. "Now fire out as many ice beams as you can"

"Charizard fly up higher and try to dodge them, use flamethrower to melt the ice beams that you can't"

"You really think you can survive this onslaught; you certainly have heart I'll give you that"

Alain smirked, "We'll deal with it".

Suddenly both trainers were distracted by a constant scream in the distance. Astrid couldn't see the commotion due to the large wave. Gyarados stopped firing ice beams releasing the trainers checked out from the battle.

Alain looked up and could see two figures falling from the sky. Astrid ran towards Alain to find out what was happening. She screamed out at the sight, "Oh no." Did one my ice beams cause this, she thought to herself. Alain recalled Charizard who was dodging the last of the attacks. Then immediately realised him and jumped on his back, "After them Charizard"

The closer they got Alain could see a girl and some Pokémon he didn't quite recognise.

"Hurry Charizard, faster"

The bird Pokémon was falling upside down and managed to turn itself around and was attempting to get its wings flapping in coordination again.

Charizard managed to grab the girl's arm and hit the brakes by throwing his wings forward to lessen the impact when they hit the ground. Alain jumped off and ran to the girl throwing his hands on her shoulders. "Are you all right". She appeared a bit dishevelled and was visibly shaking.

Before she could answer, they were knocked down by the force of a hyper beam. Charizard had hit directly and was thrown back. He managed to steady himself only to see a Pokémon using Brave Bird coming right at him. He was lifted in the air and a vicious assault began.

After the girl cleared the sand from her eyes she looked up and screamed "No Braviary, you need to calm down" She tried to stand up to make herself more visible to her Pokémon to show she was safe hoping this would calm Braviary down. This appeared to have the opposite effect as she found out the hard way, she sprained her ankle and screamed in pain.

Braviary heard her scream, so he used psychic on Charizard to separate them and throw it to the ground causing it to faint. Alain had his arms wrapped around the girl trying to help but unfortunately, the Braviary believed he was causing her pain and aimed its talons to grab him.

The girl pushed Alain to the side knowing she would be safe but with her sprained ankle she ended up falling with him. Braviary retracted its claws not wanting to hurt its trainer. It flew up and circled back around for a second attempt. This gave the girl time to release her Typhlosion. "Use phantom force and take Braviary with you"

The force from the shadows disappearing threw Alain and the girl across the beach one last time. At last, there was peace on the beach, even if it didn't last long. This gave the trainers time to catch their breath and think about what just happened.

After they took a moment to calm down, they locked eyes and realised the position they were in. Alain was on top of the girl who was lying on her back. She let out a nervous giggle "The names Dawn" Trying to break the awkward tension. Alain's eyes widened slightly and stuttered his name in response. "A…Alain"

The eerie shadows began to reappear, Dawn knew this meant the Pokémon were returning. "If you have any Pokémon that can use ghost or dark type moves now's the time to release them. Alain nodded his head and stood up to release Greninja. "Tell Typhlosion to use shadow ball as well could you"

"What are you doing" he asked confused as she began searching through her bag.

"Looking for something that will calm down Braviary, I need you to fight while I look for it"

Typhlosion and Braviary emerged from the shadows locked together. "Now Greninja, use dark pulse and Typhlosion use shadow ball" hoping the strange Pokémon would listen to him. Alain knew mega evolution was still a recent discovery, so he assumed Dawn's Typhlosion was a mega Pokémon as it was not yet confirmed every Pokémon that could and could not mega evolve.

Greninja immediately fired off a dark pulse resulting in a direct hit. Typhlosion shot a look at Alain, it was not happy being commanded by a stranger.

"Got it" Dawn shouted out. She began playing the flute just in time. Braviary was circling round for another attack now directed at Greninja. The melody captured all the Pokémon's attention, especially Braviary and Typhlosion. Braviary flew to Dawn and landed in front of her, lowering its head to meet Dawn as she was sitting down due to her ankle.

Dawn stopped playing after seeing her Pokémon had calmed down. Alain stood in shock he had never seen anything like this before. It reminded him of the professor's words, there is only so much you can discover in the lab, he truly understood those words now.

"It's ok Braviary we are safe here. They were only trying to help us" she placed her hand on its head, and it rubbed back showing its happiness knowing she was no longer in danger. "Can you please go to Charizard it's badly hurt"

Braviary stood over Charizard and used heal pulse. Charizard slowly opened its eyes and began growling expecting another fight. Alain called over to Charizard "Stand down Charizard, Braviary healed you the fights over. Now return" Alain held out its Poke ball and returned his Pokémon, "take a good rest Charizard"

As Dawn sighed with relief seeing Charizard well again, she turned to Alain "Wait isn't your Charizard black where did that Charizard come from."

"That's my Charizard it just reverts to normal after being knocked out"

"Wait normal what do you mean, don't you have a shiny Charizard"

"No, it just mega evolved, now it's back to its normal state, don't your Pokémon revert back after a battle?"

"Ok now you've completely lost me, mega Pokémon never heard of those is that something that only happens in the Kalos region"

"Wait those aren't mega Pokémon, I thought shiny Pokémon only changed their appearance, not their typing. I've never heard of those Pokémon having regional forms either"

Dawn's eyes widened as she realised how much she messed up. Alain raised an eyebrow, "You need to work on your poker face". In a nervous tone, Dawn spluttered out "Oh MEGA Pokémon, ha-ha yep that's what they are mega Pokémon, what else would they be" She tried to get up and run away to avoid saying anything else. Once again, she forgot about her ankle and fell right into Alain.

He managed to catch her as she fell into his chest, and he caught her wrists holding her up. She looked up at him and laughed nervously. "How many times are you going to forget you injured: Alain sighed

"It's fine, no need to worry" she gave him a big smile

"Lying is for people who don't have a nervous laugh and can hold a straight face"

"Alright, fine I'm lying. I have no idea what mega Pokémon are, and my ankle is killing me.

"I'm shocked" Alain replied with a deadpan look and a tone loaded with sarcasm.

"Look I'm REALLY sorry for what happened to Charizard. It's just… Braviary is very protective"

Alain cut her off "you don't say"

Trying to sound more confident but failing, "I really need you…"

Alain's eyes widened fearing where this was going.

"to…to not tell anyone about what just happened…. I'm not exactly supposed to be flying around on Braviary, let alone have anyone see her"

Alain breathed a sigh of relief. "So why do it"

"Well, aren't we Mr sensible" Dawn said teasing him. Alain continued staring at her with his deadpan look. "Ugh I did it because she's been couped up in a lab only to be sent to another one, I just wanted her to have some enjoyment. Who knows when she'll get another chance". She lowered her head biting her lip and holding back the tears. Each word sounding sadder than the last.

"Wait you're going to a lab, don't tell me you're the one Professor Sycamore told me about"

Dawn looked back up at him "ummm I guess, although I don't know what he actually said, but yeah, I was aiming for Professor Sycamore's lab. I was trying to find somewhere secluded to land Braviary. Then this ice beam came out of nowhere and… well… you know the rest. I'm not completely reckless".

"Just someone who isn't prepared for the unexpected" he retorted.

Dawn ignored that comment and asked "So how do you know the Professor"

"I'm his assistant"

"WHAT?!" Dawn exclaimed

Alain tightened his grip on her wrists as he could feel her falling back only standing on one leg and raised an eyebrow at her reaction "What's so surprising about that? And be careful you've had enough accidents today"

"Yes sir" she teased "and I don't know you just don't seem like the assistant type"

Alain wasn't sure what she meant by that, and Dawn could tell by the look on his face.

"I just have a hard time seeing someone having to order you around. It seems like you prefer to do the ordering." She giggled.

"I'm sure this is hard for you to imagine but there are people in this world that don't need constant care. They are capable of great things, and I can learn from them"

"Aww you care about me already"

"Really… that's what you took from that" he rolled his eyes. "that's why you are the one needing support to stand up, not me"

"Oh, lighten up, now if you'll excuse me I have a job to do. Because I am a capable person entrusted with important tasks"

"And how do you plan on getting there"

"By walking" She winced trying to hide the pain.

"We already established you're in pain and a bad liar. Look I'm out here waiting for the professor to tell me you dropped the research off so I can come back and get to work. He already told me the research is top secret and now I know why. So even you should be able to figure out why I'll keep your secret. I'll take you to the professor, that should mean you actually make it there in one piece,"

With a curious look in her eye, dawn asked "and how exactly do you plan on getting me back to the lab. You're the one constantly reminding me of my ankle"

"That beast of yours did a good job of healing Charizard, why can't it heal you"

Dawn's eyes lit up "Of course why didn't I think of that, you heard him Braviary let's give it a try, use heal pulse on my ankle"

Alain helped turn her to face Braviary to hold out her leg, she had one arm round his waist to hold herself. Alain held his hand over hers to help keep her in place. He placed his other arm around her waist to support her.

When the healing started, Dawn winced in pain and placed her hand on the one Alain had holding her waist, squeezing it. When it was done Alain told her to try placing her foot on the ground. She was hesitant but Alain reassured her he had a hold of her if she fell again.

She nodded at him showing her trust and slowly placed her foot on the ground. She screamed with excitement "Ahhhh, it doesn't hurt, Oh Braviary thank you so much"

"Good now how about you put those Pokémon back in their balls and we make our way to the professor. When Charizard has had a good rest, he can fly us the rest of the way.

"Alright Professor Sycamore here we come"

Alain sent the professor a quick message saying he found the girl with the research and was bringing her back to the lab. And with that off they went.