Chapter 63: C063 - Mossdeep City
Two days later, an hour before sunset, Pete and Valentino were sitting on their respective Lapras, and they looked worse for wear. This entire third day, it had been raining. And it was raining hard.
Even the small Gyarados swarm they saw in the morning went underwater instead of swimming toward them. It was the only reason Pete wasn't cursing the weather non-stop.
Two and a half hours ago, they finally reached a giant island, their first destination, but sadly, the city they were aiming for was on the other end of the oblong island.
On the southern half of this particular island was Evergrande City, Hoenn's Victory Road, and the Elite 4 HQ, where the dreams of many aspiring trainers are laid to rest. On the nothern half, Pete and Valentino would reach Purika City soon. It was a quaint settlement that didn't have a gym, but it did have a pokemon contest center, a mall, and a poke center where the two of them would be crashing today.
As much as he loved his luxurious tent and the premium sleeping bag, Pete longed for a hot shower and a soft bed. Staying at a pokecenter wasn't very high on his bucket list, but as assistant professors, it was free of charge. So Pete couldn't really complain. He'd likely make use of this fact many times during this journey unless he finds a reason to do something else.
Purika City turned out to be a huge letdown. Maybe he was just cranky, but a dude with a Cacturne outfit and a Cacturne suddenly stopped, and Pete ran into him. Then, a Wingull swooped down to steal the food he had bought at a stall. Even Duosion wasn't fast enough to stop it from happening. His impression of the city was, therefore, terrible.
The only light at the end of the tunnel was Nurse Joy, who was over the moon when she learned during smalltalk that his Duosion knew Heal Pulse thanks to a Blissey from clan Joy. The kind woman asked for Duosion's services, and Pete received a bag of 'Mental Herb' for the troubles the next morning.
In the games, this item was a held item curing a pokemon of move-induced infatuation, taunts, disables, and a few other things.
In this world, it was not an instant-cure of these things, but something a prepared trainer would give their pokemon at the end of a fight to help them calm down and relax by either smelling it or - if you were rich enough - have them chew the herb for bigger effects.
Pete would see if he could either plant bushes from these leaves with grass type energy or maybe acquire some seeds for them. He had plans to dry these leaves to try and make a tea out of them. Trying out if that would increase its effects couldn't hurt, he mused.
Refreshed after a night with proper shelter, Pete and Valentino made their way to Mossdeep City the next morning. Pete kept a Mental Herb leaf in his mouth, channeling his grass affinity through it as best he could during the journey that took until the late afternoon.
Once more, they would stay at the poke center, and once more, Nurse Joy turned out to be an absolute delight. This time around, Valentino and Pete would stay for two days because Pete had a meeting scheduled with Steven Stone, Hoenn's current champion, the next day in the afternoon. They would likely continue their journey the morning after that.
It was earlier than their arrival in Purika City, so Valentino excused himself and started to roam the city. Pete instead stayed behind in the pokecenter and helped Nurse Joy tend to the pokemon. They exchanged treatment methods and discussed diets for pokemon and many other little things. It seemed that his impression with Nurse Joys was so good that they held little secrets with him.
Pete even learned of yet another bug that mostly flying pokemon would feast on that weren't the ones living in Scarlet Moss. They were a mix of short caterpillars and winged ants with really short mandibles for a fusion of them both that looked like a really long ant with a big meaty head. Earthen brown in color, they actually evolved to be somewhat immune to weaker poison pokemon, allowing them to live in swamps.
There was also another fruit he would buy or search saplings for because, for some reason, Herbert's company hadn't listed them in their catalog; olives. Only very few pokemon apparently ate those and no meals Pete found so far included them.
'Maybe you couldn't press them for oil in this world, or they were super bitter? I'll have to call later. They didn't have Mental Herb plants either...'
Before going to bed, Nurse Joy gave him yet another plant he hadn't grown on his farm yet, Energy Root. The bitter remedy looked like a fist with a flexing arm hanging from it and functioned much like Oran Berries. Though it did... pack more of a punch.
When Pete woke up to get ready for his day, he received a message from Steven that their meeting would still happen and they were to meet at the Devon Corp office building near the space center. After breakfast with his pokemon, Pete once more helped out a little, much to Nurse Joy's delight.
At around lunchtime, Pete went out to the city with all his pokemon except for Nidoking and the three Farfetch'd, who went to the beach to spar after eating some prepacked treats.
"Hey, mister! Is that a Duosion?"
As Pete just came out of the restaurant he and his pokemon ate lunch at, a young girl's voice came from the side.
"Hmm?" Pete had to take a second look because clearly the future psychic duo gym leaders Tate & Liza were standing in front of them in their blue martial art outfit. Liza had a very round Natu in her hands while Tate pulled a cart with a lazy Slowpoke loafing around on it.
"And look at that Espeon, so cool~" the young boy mumbled with stars in his eyes.
"Oh, yeah. Duosion was my first ever pokemon. I hatched her and got very lucky. Not because she's a color variant but because she's such a delight," Pete praised as he patted the pokemon floating next to him with a warm smile.
"That's really super duper cool, mister! I want to train a Solosis too one day! My brother and I are going to be the gym leaders of the gym here in Mossdeep City soon when our aunt retires, and we'll be super strong psychic pokemon trainers like our aunt!"
"Mhm, psychic pokemon are special, so you two are sure to do a great job," Pete offered with a warm smile.
Both twins gave them a pleased grin until Tate paled and pointed up.
"Oh no, Liza! We gotta hurry! Look, dad is about to land!"
"Sorry, mister. We promised Daddy to be there when he landed. If we don't run, he won't give us the space pokemon he finds," Liza excused, and the two ran off as quickly as their little legs allowed.
'Uh, is that how they got their Lunatone and Solrock? I faintly remember their dad being an astronaut, but... really? He got them from actual outer space?' Pete pondered as he looked up to the sky. But then he shook his head.
'There's so much to do on land. Let others worry what's out there. Like those... what were their names again? Ugh, they were so forgettable... Elgyem and Beheeyem? And I got no need to fret over ultra beasts when not in Alola either.'
Pete continued to a poke mart and finally bought his pokeblock kit that, for some reason, wasn't sold in Johto. He bought three of them, just in case one breaks and he wanted to gift another to Jasmine for a total of only P$9.000 thanks to a discount he got when he revealed he was an assistant professor.
Apparently, they wanted to sell these kits in other regions, but there was no real demand because of a lack of advertisement, in combination with their inability to sell them in stores run by Silph Co. The salesperson didn't say much, but Pete got the implied message that he was to tell others about his positive experience with the pokeblocks. He did save a whooping P$6.000 after all.
After that, Pete had half a mind to go to the space station, but he heard from passersby that it was closed to the public because of the landing that was today. So he went to the beach instead to spend some time with Nidoking and his three Farfetch'd.
Unexpectedly, Pete met Valentino and an unknown woman there with his pokemon. She was wearing a bright red martial arts outfit in the same style as Liza and Tate earlier, but hers had a golden stylized Omega symbol like the symbol for the game Omega Ruby on her stomach.
'Well, if she isn't the current gym leader and next guardian at Mt Pyre, I don't know who would be,' Pete thought with an amused smile as he looked toward her Starmie, shiny Claydol, the one with golden instead of red eyes, and Gardevoir.
"Pete! I was about to call you. I met an old acquaintance, Leona. Leona, meet Pete - my newest colleague," Valentino said in introduction.
Leona looked like a woman in her late twenties by Pete's old world standard and had bright golden eyes, same as her shiny Claydol, with dark brown hair and a slim build. Both her Gardevoir and the floating Claydol were a little taller than she was.
"My my, what a strong psychic bond," Leona said with a smile instead of introducing herself.
'You haven't yet figured out how to do this, right? I mean with other people, not your own bonded pokemon,' Leona's voice said in Pete's mind the next moment.
"Uh, no. How could you tell I have psychic affinity so quickly and even judge my current abilities?"
Leona only gave him a mysterious smile, but before she could once more speak in his mind, Valentino interjected.
"Hey, hey. Don't scare my junior away with your mindgames. That's why you're still single after all this time."
Mossdeep City's gym leader regarded Valentino with a glare until the man clutched his head and screamed.
"Making me relive that moment over and over is so unfair! You... you witch!"
"Heh, want me to show it to your 'junior'?" Leona asked with an evil grin.
"No! He still thinks I'm cool! You can't do this to me!"
"You see Pete, this one time I was at the beach and saw your little friend here-" "Please, you can't do this!" "-getting chased by some Beedrills while completely nak-"
"Please, no! I'll do anything you say!"
"Hmph~ I'm a little thirsty for a milkshake. How about you go to Mama Miltank's Milkshake stall near the poke center and get me one. You know my favorite flavor," Leona requested as if placing her order with a waiter at a restaurant she was a regular at.
With heavy steps, Valentino and his Aggron stomped their way toward the city. The walk wasn't really all too long since the poke center was close to this beach.
"So Pete. You know about us guardians? Your eyes clearly flashed in recognition of this symbol," Leona asked with a serious expression as she placed her hand on her stomach where the omega sign was at.
"Uh, I'm very well read?"
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AN: I finished writing the end of Volume 1 (C071) that will release July 18th at 6PM CEST.
I'm planning the new volume 2 in my head right now, but I'm not sure I'm going to write it this week because I popped out chapters non-stop during my vacation last week. So there might be a break before more chapters release.
The name of volume 2 is Professor Lang. You get what it is about, right?
Starts off with a 700~ day time skip to around the time of Jasmine's Olivine Gym Leader audition. (I mean, we all know how that's going to go)
In any case, I already have a long AN written on C071 with my plans and stuff going forward, but if you have ideas already, let me know here.
Chapter 64: C064 - Talking about Mega Evolutions with Steven Stone
'It was something deeper than having simply seen this symbol before, Pete. Please tell me for my sanity,' Leona spoke once more in his mind. Thankfully, her pokemon didn't yet get into an attacking posture.
Pete concentrated a little and 'thought out loud' next.
'I assume you can hear this?' The gym leader nodded in return.
'Well, I really am well read. The myths for Groudon who created all land, Kyogre who created the oceans and Rayquaza who stopped their fighting so that pokemon may live in peace aren't myths to me. Rest assured, though, I never want to meet either of them because I want to die of old age on my farm instead of Kyogre drowning the lands or Groudon drying them permanently,' Pete unhurriedly explained.
"Good answer. Sorry, I got a little defensive because you're about to reach a position of power, and you have very talented pokemon. I've felt your sincerety so I don't need to worry, and you don't need to worry," Leona offered while visibly relaxing.
"No worries, I uh... I get why you're apprehensive. Traditions are nice, but as much as I respect them for their part in making this region and the others able to support life, I fear what would happen if both of them awaken. Or worse, only one of them. So it's good when as little people remember as possible, honestly," Pete waved off.
"My parents who are guardians since before me and my sister's birth certainly think so, too. Could never tell anybody about it and strictly stick to my training. My sister was the lucky one to get out of it by becoming the administrator of the space center and marrying a hunky astronaut."
"Okay? Well, I'm sure you'll find that special someone soon. Even I found someone without even looking," Pete offered with his signature smile.
"Ugh, even a brat like you is already ahead of me?"
"Hey, this brat is going to be a professor before the year ends by the pace I'm documenting unknown evolutions. I proved the Milotic evolution. I found a potential evolution requirement for Gliscor, documented an unprecented evolution for Girafarig, and I'm on the ve-"
"Wait, just one moment. Did you just say you found an evolution for Girafarig?"
Leona stepped forward and held Pete's shoulders with both hands as she stared up at him intensely. She was almost a head shorter than him, so she wasn't at all intimidating.
"Uh, yeah. My Girafarig evolved to Farigiraf, keeping its normal/psychic typing. I even proved the feasibility by allowing the Girafarig of Goldenrod City's gym leader to evolve, too. Here, let me show you a picture," Pete explained as he took out his tablet to show pictures of his pokemon.
"Wow... tell me how! My Girafarig has been moody for almost two months because he's hit a plateau in his strength. I'll compensate you!"
"Uh, I mean, this is going to be public knowledge or at least league knowledge in a month at most - I could just show you a video?"
"That's not how we guardians do things. All things in balance and all that crap. Now tell me, what do you want? TMs? Pokemon eggs? A date with me? No, wait, I'm not a homewrecker. Uhhh... I don't have much money either, giving it all to the guardians... A training session with someone much more experienced than you in psychic affinity?"
"Hmm, Jasmine, my girlfriend, did want to raise a Baltoy for her future as the ground gym leader of Olivine City. Do you have an egg from the lineage of your amazing Claydol?"
"Isn't there a rock type gym in Olivine?"
"Yeah, that was what she was aiming for, too. But her Onix evolved into Steelix, and she didn't want to part with it as her ace. I suggested she goes for either steel or ground instead, and she was bold enough to change her team to ground pokemon for the upcoming audition. Wise choice too, because it turned out she has an affinity for ground type energy," Pete narrated with a fond look.
"Well~ I don't have any eggs from my big bigguns Claydol, but there are two Baltoy I'd let you choose from. Technically, both were meant for my lovely niece and nephew, but maybe the other one can get a Drowzee instead. I don't want them competing over who has the more powerful Baltoy anyway," Leona offered while tapping her chin. She turned to Claydol, likely talking over their bond if it was okay with the arrangement, and if Pete had to guess, it looked happy with the deal. Leona also told him as much, so Pete turned to Duosion and Espeon.
"Okay, guys. I didn't bring our girl Farigiraf with me, so it's up to you to show them Twin Beam. I know Duosion learned it, what about you Espeon?"
Both pokemon showed off the move and talked to Leona's pokemon telepathically as Pete explained the move together with the two videos of Girafarig evolving. Valentino eventually arrived with three cups of milkshakes in hand, and a few hours later, Pete chose one of the Baltoys via a videocall with Jasmine.
The two women shared their league IDs during the call, and Jasmine promised to keep in touch to share Baltoy's future progress. Pete could tell the women really hit it off in the few short minutes that they talked. He also received a booklet with psychic affinity training methods that he read until he got ready for his meeting with Steven.
Inside a building that screamed modern office space, Pete got off the elevator on the highest floor. He felt severely underdressed in between all these suited up people, but it was no longer possible to change. His black cargo pants, a comfortable long sleeve earthen-mustard colored shirt, and black sneakers would have to do for now.
Not that he had a suit to change into in the first place, an oversight he should fix. The question was if he would do it without Sophie's help and endure her potential nagging by finding a store here in Hoenn.
His musings stopped when he was led to an office for someone with the corporate role 'Pride of the CEO' plastered on the door.
'Uh.. wait, let me re-read that... nope, still says Pride of the CEO,' Pete thought with a wry smile.
When Pete finally stepped into the office under the urging of the pretty secretary, he saw Steven waiting on him with black lines on his forehead and furrowed brows.
"Did you have to take a double-take? I asked my dad hundreds of times to change the sign, but he won't budge. I knew I should have met you at a restaurant or something," Steven said in mock anger.
Pete was about to respond with something witty, but then he noticed the giant, silver, shiny Metagross behind Steven's desk, and his pupils dilated into pins. By far, this was the most powerful pokemon he had ever seen this close. Clair's Dragonite and Charizard didn't even come close, to say nothing of his own pokemon.
"Hehe, a lot of people react to my buddy that way. He's really quite something, isn't he?"
"Yeah, wow... *cough* ah, where are my manners. Hello, Mister Stone. Thank you very much for taking the time to meet me. I'm Pete Lang, Johto's Professor Elm's newest assistant," Pete introduced himself with a handshake as he walked over to the well-dressed, sky-blue haired man.
"Pleasure to make your acquaintance! And please, call me Steven. Now, you said something about Devon Corp being infiltrated, a stone or two I'd like to buy, and you wanted to say something about history, Hoenn's myths?"
"Well, let's start with something that would put all of us in a good mood. I'm not sure how much you like fossils, but I have a cover fossil from Unova, I'd like to gift you to start us off. Judging by your lineup, you have at least some fondness for... prehistoric pokemon," Pete answered as he handed the fossil containing a Tirtouga's shell over to the champion.
"Oooh, Cradily and Armaldo could certainly use a new friend. Ah, are you aware that we recently had a breakthrough and can transplant a pokemon's DNA from fossils like these into a Chansey's 'fake egg'? It's very costly, but that's negligible for someone like me, as you can imagine. I certainly shall not take such a gift for free, but let's see how the rest of this meeting goes before I offer you anything," Steven retorted with a wink before looking at the shell with shining eyes.
"Ah, well, okay. Then let's add this stone to the list of things we'll discuss the compensation of at the end of the meeting," Pete quipped back as he took out the gigantic Moon Stone he found in the forest near Violet City and suddenly, Steven didn't smile anymore.
Steven swiftly went behind his desk, sat on the edge of his chair, and opened a drawer to take out a silver stickpin with a multi-colored orb on it that was slowly and barely blinking with a purple-pink light.
"Huh, well, you certainly brought something other people would kill for. Are you aware of mega evolutions? My keystone is reacting to your Moon Stone, suggesting it houses a 'mega stone' that has a chance to allow a pokemon to enable its mega evolution. I own a pair of them, but yours is one I do not yet own. We used to think one mega stone only allows one particular species to mega evolve, but we have since learned that a mega stone can be applied to a pokemon of a particular typing," Steven explained as he gestured to his stickpin.
"My keystone is pulsing in the colors of poison and psychic typing energy, which means it could potentially enable my Metagross to mega evolve. There is no real science behind it yet, so my findings would be among the first for this particular mega stone, I'd imagine. We would have to contact Professor Sycamore in Kalos to be sure. If you still allow me to have the stone, I would not be stingy. If you want to keep it, I would even go as far as finding you a keystone of your own."
Pete was a little overwhelmed at that, and he wondered about his giant Leaf Stone. Would it contain another mega stone? What were the chances of him finding two of them in such a short time? With a deep breath, he decided to find out now and took out the second stone.
This time, it was Steven's eyes that reduced to pins because when he understood Pete's intention and moved the keystone over the Leaf Stone, it pulsed in green and brown colors.
"Not knowing what they are, you managed to find two mega stones. This one seems to enable grass and ground to mega evolve. Remarkable," Steven praised sincerely.
"I'd certainly like to find out if my three psychic pokemon have mega evolutions, but I think it would be much better suited in your hands. I'll keep the grass and ground mega stone, though. As a farmer I'd be stupid not to and if I don't find anything, my girlfriend is about to become a ground type gym leader in Johto's Olivine City," Pete spoke with a sigh a few silent moments later.
He had to remind himself several times that he didn't plan to become an elite trainer. He had no ambition to become a champion and simply wanted to live in peace.
Hoarding all these mega stones would do nothing in his hands. He was no longer playing a game by holding a game boy in his hands, being a completionist that filled out his pokedex and having enough items to break a region's economy in his bags would do nothing for him.
"I'd allow you to sleep on it, but there was a certain determination in your voice just now. Let me reassure you that I will find you a keystone regardless of the outcome of our negotiations later. Maybe I can simply swipe the one in the labs in the basement of this building. And please trust me, I will not make you regret this decision either," Steven sincerely reassured.
"Now you said something about the shady dealings in this company that I need to be aware of in your message?"
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AN: A little longer so I could better explain my thought process behind mega evolutions and mega stones. In a world as big as I imagined, it makes more sense to me that they work on typing than for only 1 species.
Don't let Pete's luck fool you, though. Even someone as rich as Steven Stone only owns 2 of them, and not all work for 2 typings. It's not guaranteed to work either just because you have a stone with appropriate typing.
If nothing crazy happens, Jasmine will own either a Mega Camerupt or a Mega Garchomp in the future, thanks to Pete's stone. Not 100% yet, maybe Pete finds a pokemon to mega evolve, but the grass options are all poop to me.
I'm sure a lot of people will greatly dislike that he's giving away the stones, but I don't care. Pete won't become a champion, and that is final.
And why wouldn't he want Steven to own a Mega Metagross? The dude would make extra sure that Team Aqua and Magma would never succeed in a million years, so Pete's farm isn't drowned or burned to ashes.
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