Why I don't want Lucario to mega evolve in Friendship is Aura · 5:37pm Dec 8th, 2013
Ah, Pokémon X & Y. I love those games with all my heart. The new 3D graphics, the cool new pokémon, the improved gameplay mechanics, the surprisingly dark and touching storyline, the trainer customization. While I still consider Black & White 1 to be my favorite games in the series so far (for reasons I won't get sidetracked on here), X & Y improved everything I already loved about one of my all-time favorite video game series, and I love them even more for it.
...But I knew from the moment it was announced that the newly introduced Mega Evolution mechanic was going to sit unwell with me somewhere in the future. And it's not because I dislike them. I love my badflank Mega Charizard X, which finally gave my favorite starter pokémon its much deserved Dragon-type, and having a shiny Mega Absol and a shiny Mega Gyarados is all the swag. No, I knew mega evolutions was going to be trouble because, of course, Lucario got his own too.
Ever since Mega Lucario appeared on the scene, all of you readers out there have commented and asked and requested and borderline demanded that Lucario in Friendship is Aura should be able to mega evolve too. And admittingly, I understand your reasons. I love Mega Lucario as much as any of you. And seeing as my story is heavily focused on fight scenes and action, the mere thought of Lucario going mega on some future opponent's rear probably makes some of your eyes twinkle in hype. Of course you would want to see that. Hay, even I would want to see that happen if I wasn't the writer of the story.
But like some of you have read on my previous blog posts, I have no intention of including Mega Lucario in Friendship is Aura. So while I, like I said, don't blame you for wanting me to include it, some of you can maybe understand the slight frustration on my part from still getting people asking for it. So to clear things up on why I don't want to include it, I've written down and explained my most important reasons down below. Starting with:
Number 1) Lucario can't mega evolve without a Mega Stone
As all of you who've played X & Y know, Mega Evolution can only be achieved by a pokémon if it's holding a Mega Stone. In-universe, it works as a sort of link between the pokémon and its trainer, letting their strong feelings of trust and friendship empower the pokémon into their mega form. To further complicate things, said pokémon can't just hold any Mega Stone either. It must be one specifically intended for their species, like an Absolite, a Charizardite , or in Lucario's case, a Lucarionite. Seeing as Lucario in Friendship is Aura is not in possesion of one, it would thus from at least a gameplay point of view be impossible for him to mega evolve.
Now, I'm not saying that breaking the rules a bit for the sake of the story is out of the question. Afterall, I've done it several times already in the story. Lucario knows his entire movepool, which is impossible. He's clearly much more powerful than any other normal pokémon, which is generally impossible. And there WILL be moments further on in the story that nitpick readers out there will claim to be, you guessed it, impossible. Some of you have even already come up with your own ideas about how Lucario can mega evolve, like it having something to do with Luna and their feelings for each other (Me writing a LucarioxLuna shipping story? What makes you think that...?) Even the official anime doesn't seem to have made up its mind about how Mega Evolution works exactly, seeing as Mewtwo in the latest movie was able to mega evolve freely without one.
But the gameplay reason is just one of the reasons for why I don't want to include Mega Lucario. Another more pressing reason is:
Number 2) Mega Evolutions were introduced after I had already started writing Friendship is Aura
The first chapter of Friendship is Aura was published on April 26 2012, over 15 months before mega evolutions were revealed, and over 8 months before Pokémon X & Y were announced at all. For some authors, such a fact wouldn't matter much. Afterall, they aren't entitled to solely use material that was present at the time they started writing their story, and I know several people who've included new information from both the MLP universe and otherwise into their plot before finishing it. Most of the time, the results are actually pretty good.
But the thing about me is that I feel neither an urge or a sense of necessity to include mega evolutions into my story just because they're "the new thing". It's not like how you download DLC to a game to automatically make it overall better. Taking newly introduced facts is, in a sense, idea stealing for me. It makes me feel as if I'm not confident enough in my story to believe that it can stand on its own without them, as if it's garbage unless I include them. And I don't believe it is. I'm not saying it is a masterpiece (this IS the first story I've ever written, afterall), but I want to have faith in that the story I've planned is great as it is. Which leads into my next reason:
Number 3) Mega Evolutions were introduced after I had already finished planning Friendship is Aura
I've mentioned at some points that I had been daydreaming and fantasizing about Friendship is Aura several months before I started writing it. And I don't mean that I thought up a cool scenario that would at most cover the first few chapters or so. No, I mean that I planned THE ENTIRE THING. From start to finish. Perhaps not every single dialogue or minor scene, but every major plot point, every major character, every major fight, every single moral that I knew that I wanted to in the end convey to you readers. Many authors make the story up as they go, but I don't do that. I MUST plan nearly the entire story out before I even CONSIDER to start writing it down. That's one of the reasons for why I haven't gotten around to write any other stories yet, because I want to plan them thoroughly beforehand.
In other words, that means that all the things I've planned for Friendship is Aura are 100% free of mega evolutions. I'm sure many of you would argue that it wouldn't have such a big impact on the plot as I make it out to be, but it does. In comparison to newly introduced attacks and moves in X & Y, Mega Evolution isn't just some minor attack that I can include or leave out without anyone noticing. It's a fundamental part of certain pokémons' full potential, one that pretty much changes everything about both their fighting style and the plot that centers around them. If I were to include Mega Lucario, I would need to come up with an elaborate reason for how that form can exist and how it comes to be, which would tremendously impact and alter the plot I've already planned ahead over a year and a half in advance.
"But Kang," I'm sure some of you now say, "you've obviously already teased on the fact that Lucario has some kind of secret, unrevealed power that he unleashes when needed, like when he defeated Chrysalis and when he broke out of Nightmare's moon! You can just rewrite your future plans so that it is his mega evolution somehow, and we readers will be none the wiser!"
...No. No, I cannot. Why?
Number 4) Lucario's inner secret power is, and CANNOT BE, his Mega Evolution
Like I just said, it's pretty clear for all of you by now that there's more to Lucario's power than meets the eye. He somehow countered Chrysalis' strongest attack and blew up her and part of a mountain with a single, mysterious yellow Aura Sphere. When he was close to being crushed by Nightmare's moon, he somehow made the entire thing glow like the sun before breaking it to pieces with two incredibly powerful Force Palms. And finally, just before he woke up from Luna's vision and broke out of the moon, he was walking to some kind of light within his conscience that whispered "Surpass me...".
Just what is this power? I'm of course not going to tell you, as it will be revealed in good time, but the fact remains that whatever it is, it's some kind of secret potential that is NOT his mega form. This can already be proven in the story by how Lucario's attacks and aura turn yellow upon accessing it, while Mega Lucario doesn't change its attacks' colors at all. Regardless of what it is, I'm sure that some of you will think that Mega Evolution would still be a better idea. Even after the source of this power is revealed, I'm sure many of you will call bullsh*t and argue why I didn't go with the simpler mega evolutions instead.
But have you noticed all the teases I've given about this power so far? Have you noticed how much I've built up to it, how much I've made you all wonder what it is, and why Lucario has it? If so, it's because I've built a major portion of my story around this power. Many plot points that will happen (and some that already HAVE happened) in the story center around this power. What it is, what it comes from, and how it impacts both the past, current, and future plot. I didn't just include this hidden power because of the simple fact that I wanted Lucario to have some kind of hidden power for cliché anime-inspired reasons. I knew that if I included it (which would make future fights and struggles all the more interesting if I did), I couldn't just half-flank the explanation behind it and never mention its origin again. It HAD to be properly explained and implemented into the overall plot, and it HAD to serve a bigger purpose rather than to give Lucario a senseless power boost.
THIS is what I've majorly built the story of Friendship is Aura around. The mystery behind it is a driving plot point that will impact the story at several points. So imagine what would happen to that otherwise pre-planned story if I replaced one of its most important ingredients with another that in no way sticks together with the rest of the puzzle, causing all of it to collapse on itself.
Yeah, it wouldn't be pretty.
For those of you who've read all this way without going TL;DR, thank you for at least hearing my reasons out, and know that I still appreciate all the attention and discussions this story is getting.
- KangTheGuardian -
Mega Evolution needs the Mega Stone, the Key Stone, and the Mega Ring. And the one holding the Mega Ring needs a strong bond with the holder of the Mega Stone.
But how will they make babies? Afteral Luna needs some mega pounding.
1585545 Oh yeah, that too. As if just the Mega Stone wasn't complicated enough
1585555 besides, there's always the next story...
I'm not worried about it at all; Lucario's already a powerful badass by himself
As far as the game itself, I'm still on the fence about getting it for myself, or more rather, I just wait until someone actually goes out of their way and gift it to me (It's how I got Platinum
). But the touching storyline IS out there; AZ has piqued my interest somewhat 
1585588 There's a trick you can use when fishing to increase your chances of hooking a shiny pokémon. It involves hooking multiple fishes in a row without getting a "nothing bites" message or failing to press the A button to reel one in. Also, catching a pokémon like Gulpin (who has an ability that near-guarantees getting a fish on the line) helps out immensely. It can take you anywhere between 20 to 100 hooks or more, but eventually a shiny one will appear as long as you don't break the chain. And that's how I got myself a shiny Magikarp
When we seeing more Lucario x Luna chapters
Honestly I agree with the readers that it would be really cool to see Lucario mega-evolve and stuff and I even thought of a few reasons as to why it could happen. Like the staff had Lucarionite or something.
However I knew that you wouldn't do it mainly because your story has already been developed to the point where any major changes to the plot or story line would be amateurish. And the story predates the mega-evolution concept when it was first revealed and stuff. So it'd be an incredible coincidence if you were trying to involve something like that in your story anyway.
So I understand your reasons and why you won't do it, but I still think it could fit well in your story with how you've written it.
I actually prefer Lucario's normal form, it looks cooler in my eyes. I'm perfectly fine with not having him mega evolve.
I'm still very annoyed at X & Y for not having a Mega Empoleon though.
Actually, since the moon is now closely associated with fairy types, aura sphere didn't work on Nightmare's ghost, but dragon pulse still clearly had an effect on her, you can just say the events of this story follows pre gen 6 canon. Really, if you stuck to pokemon canon with mega evolving, you would have to go back and edit that use of dragon pulse out, because it shouldn't logically have any effect on her, and that would be a headache for everyone.
...Anyone else looking forward to December 27th?
1585611 I'm more focused on the Mega Gyarados concept; I haven't seen what they looked like yet
1585671
fc01.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2013/301/a/5/mega_gyarados_by_tomycase-d6s1wqj.png
1585714 Huh...Not bad. I was about to say nothing had changed until I noticed both the whiskers and longer fins
I agreed with you from the start about not giving FiA Lucario the Megalution.
One thought I also had was that maybe the Mega Stones are native to the Kalos region, with any Stones outside the borders (like in Pokemon: The Origin) being exported. It's possible Fuji could've just gotten it as a gift from a researcher there, though…
Anywho, I would think that nobody Lucario knew pre-Equestria would have ever come across a Mega Stone in their life.
(>hasn't even played X or Y ¬.¬)
hehehe U shud mak Lucario Mega-evolv becuz teh store wil b so much beter. hu carz that u wrot teh hole store alredy we want it. Christ that hurt to type It's cool bro. I told where I could have seen sliding it in there but then not having him evolve again after that. Ultimately it's up to you what happens and since you already wrote it out there is no swaying you. Looking forward to the Next chapter.
I didn't think you would get bugged about this topic, but that's just me either being naive or having other things occupy my time. Am I one of the few readers who expected Lucario's Mega Evolution to be ignored for the sake of this story?
so has anyone seen the latest pokemon movie that shows mega stones aren't needed i mean the mewtwo in it mega evolves to mewtwo y with out a stone or ring. only in game cannon so far are those needed
Interesting. I wonder, perhaps his Mega Form could be a sideffect of his inner power?
1587949 actually the mewtwo in this was female though that was the english dub haven't found a sub version
"TL;DR"?
1588327 I was talking about Lucario.
I'm totally cool with no Mega Lucario in this. Normal Lucario has proven to be an incredibly competent warrior anyway that just needs to break the silly rule of 4-moves-at-a-time (which, for the record, I also heavily approve of dis-regarding said rule if you want, since it provides more variety, especially when this story focuses on a single Pokemon period) to be completely badass.
While Mega Evolutions are cool, I only wondered as a passing thought if you would eventually include Mega Evolutions, and I already got an answer a few chapters back I believe, so I just set it aside as a "What If" chapter idea if Lucario decided to break the Mega conventions and stomp Chrysalis into dust with it. XD
Anyway, it's your story and you have your reasons for writing it the way you want. Not to mention, it's a great story as well, so this wouldn't affect it at all.
Oh, and by the way, in X, I named my Lucario "Yu Narukami" since I had a Gardevoir named "Izanagi." I'm curious if you named your Lucario in it if you named it anything. ^_^
1589156 While I usually nickname any pokémon I plan to use on my team, Lucario is one of only two pokémon in the whole series that I no longer name differently. After writing an over 120 000 word long (and growing) story about him, I just can't see him under any other name anymore. For me, Lucario is now his name just as much as, say, Luke Skywalker's name is Luke Skywalker. You just can't change it.
1589436
Makes sense. I personally name the ones I'm actually gonna use, while ones I catch purely for Pokedex completion I just leave alone. And since the game was awesome enough to give me Lucario, I just HAD to take him to the end. That, and he doesn't need his Mega evolution while I think Charizard kinda does for my Dragon plans for him, what with the 1-Mega-per-party rule.
I agree with your reasons, but hell, you could write it off if you really wanted too.
Lucario, for whatever reasons, finds his mega stone. He doesn't know what it is at the time.
Luna substitutes as his trainer. This circumvents the need for a trainer's bond.
As far as the bracelet is concerned? ... Eh, it's a MacGuffin at best. We don't need that shit.