บท 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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