Equestria. Ponyville. Day.
Returning from the Human World since yesterday, today would be a rather special day for Ash and his Lucario. A day that would help stave away the ever-present problem of Delayed Aura Ataxia. And to receive this, he could trust one individual with this and that was none other than Korrina. He was already calling for her and in a heartbeat, he received a response. But not exactly the most gentle or happy response came from Korrina's voice.
"Ash! You're very late!" Screaming through Ash's phone was Korrina, who seemed to be rather upset. Her voice was so powerful it reached the outside "My grandpa was expecting you yesterday at Shalour City! Where have you been?!"
"Sorry. Took some time to help a friend out." laughed Ash after receiving a roar from Korrina. "But better late than never, right?"
"Pikachu?"
"It's fine." Gurkinn showed up on the screen. "It's not like it's a top priority at all. But there was something wonderful planned over at the island that lost its suspense." He grumbled, appearing let down by the one-day delay. "Oh well. I've heard everything about Delayed Aura Ataxia by now. From your friends and the Queen of Rota. It's been something most Aura users haven't been aware of for a long time until recently. Twilight and Bertha are right when it comes to staving off that problem."
"So, Aura really can prevent Delayed Aura Ataxia?" Ash asked.
"It can. You won't even notice it's there. It might have something to do with Mega Lucario's existence and the phenomenon of Mega Evolution. Despite being older than us, it's still rather young compared to other phenomenons in the world." Gurkinn continued.
"Is that so? Because I figured it would be the opposite." Rarity spoke, getting some words in. "I haven't even Mega Evolved both my Pokemon at the same time. I use Mega Evolution on one Pokemon only. Won't this just harm Ash even more?"
"Yeah. And I only use Rainbow-Braviary and Mega Altaria separately. I know that'll mess me up if I do both at the same time."
"Fair enough. That's only natural for how much power they use. Don't worry about that for now. Make your way to the Kingdom of Rota Ash. There, you will receive one part of the Mega Stone. Of course, the Lucarionite will be out of your reach. We waited for you at Shalour since yesterday but that led to nowhere." Gurkinn sighed. "It'll be easier to appear at a place within your region. Queen Ilene will be there waiting."
"Ilene too? Got it. We're on our way." Ash would begin to make his way to the Kingdom of Rota. Before that, he would hold out a Poke Ball, throwing it into the air. Out of it came the Pokemon of interest for today. Lucario.
"Lucario!"
"Well, Lucario. This is it." Ash approached the Aura Pokemon. "We're about to a put a pin this whole Ataxia thing pretty soon. Mega Evolution's the power we need to do just that."
"And you'll join the club too. See?" Rainbow Dash uttered as she, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rarity held out their Mega Stones. "We'll be an almost-full band of Mega Evolvers. Minus Pinkie Pie, of course."
"It's fine! I have Mew with me so that's no big deal!" Pinkie Pie grinned. She didn't need Mega Evolution at all. The only thing she had was Dynamax and that was given to her by Bea. "But it would be cool though..."
"Lu..." Lucario narrowed his eyes after looking at the Mega Stones his friends all had. From the look on his face, he was determined to achieve that power. For every Pokemon that is capable of Mega Evolving, a dormant power lies within, waiting to unleash their full potential and go beyond their final evolution.
Kanto. Rota Kingdom. Afternoon.
Ash and his friends had arrived at the Rota Kingdom. Waiting for them there was Shalour City's Gym Leader Korrina and her grandfather Gurkinn. But they weren't the only ones.
"Ah, Ash." Here to greet Ash and his friends was the Ruler of Rota. Showing up to Rota was fitting considering what this was all about. Not many places in the Pokemon World focused on the power that is Aura, and Rota was one of the most important places where the knowledge of Aura can be shared. "Glad you could make it. This could be a rather momentous day and I see all of your friends have shown up too."
"Mhm. We're here to see this because of how troublesome that Ataxia is, Queen Ilene." Twilight said. "It's been a rather rough experience when it first came up and it just kept on growing. I mean, we found out that a Gardevoir was behind it but still."
"But this will completely erase it, right?" Rarity questioned. "Mega Evolution will be the thing that ends this whole Ataxia issue?"
"That depends on what happens. No one has ever suffered this much Ataxia before, let alone Mega Evolved. But your friend Bertha might have been on to something when she recommended Mega Evolution." Gurkinn added.
"I haven't had to deal with that myself." Korrina held out her hand, showing off her Mega Stone. "But I'm counting on you to make sure no one else has to feel the Ataxia."
"That's why we're here." Ash nodded in response.
"And you..." Korrina put her hand on Ash's Lucario while he was looking at Korrina's Lucario. "Grow stronger with Ash, okay? I know that two of you can do it."
"Well, here you go to start things off. The Mega Stone that you will need." In Gurkinn's hand was the Key Stone. Only one part of Lucario's path to Mega Evolution. The final part was the Lucarionite, which was currently not present in this area.
Ash gazed at the stone before receiving it in all of its shiny glory. By touching it, he could already feel the energy coming off of it. This was his first time laying hands on a Key Stone after only ever seeing it. And the feeling he got from it was truly special.
"Wow...But uh...Where am I gonna put it?" All Ash needed was something to put the Mega Stone in. He was expecting a Mega Ring or any other accessory to help with that.
"I've got this. Can you hold still for a moment and put your hand out?" Twilight would approach him, having the solution to that. Ash would do just that as the Princess of Friendship would use her magic. With her magic, she affected Ash's glove, turning the middle part of the top completely solid for a moment. Ash gasped at this impressive usage of magic as Twilight had formed a mould in Ash's glove. A mould that was perfectly in the shape of the Key Stone.
"Awesome!" Ash was amazed before dropping the Mega Stone into the mould. It fit like a glove indeed. And immediately after putting it on, Ash raised his arm as the stone sparkled gracefully. The Sun helped to illustrate its beauty as well.
And with the stone sparkling, Lucario's Aura would suddenly rise up., emanating from his body in response to the Key Stone. Everyone gasped as it looked like Lucario could Mega Evolve at any second with how he was reacting to it.
"Oh! Is he going to evolve right now?!" said Goh with widened eyes.
"No, no. He certainly couldn't." Gurkinn quickly shut it down. "Ash only has the Key Stone right now and all that's left is the Mega Stone for the Pokemon. Only then will Mega Evolution be fully complete. They must resonate with each other. The Lucarionite is the final piece of this phenomenon."
"Okay. So where is it then?" Rainbow Dash asked, navigating her head to see if she could spot the Lucarionite.
"Well, there's two of them that come to mind. I was planning to lead you to Mega Island where you can find that very Lucarionite but yesterday threw a wrench in that. And now that we're here at Rota, the Lucarionite here will be quicker to find." Gurkinn explained.
"Wait? Is it here in Rota somewhere?" Fluttershy asked, suspecting that the Lucarionite was here in the Rota Kingdom somewhere.
"No." Ilene quickly replied. "But it does have some connection to Rota. There exists a place known as Goldebron Mountain Pass. Somewhere at that mountain pass, the Lucarionite can be found. It's said to have shown up after Sir Aaron's passing but the energy there was faint, only appearing as a ball of energy. It was until Lucario also passed that it finally grew and materialized into a stone."
"It started off as energy and become a stone afterwards?! Our stones never did that!" Twilight gasped with wonder before looking at her Key Stone.
"Yes. But no one has claimed it. Not even those that have become Hero of the Year each time with had our annual Pokemon Contest. Ash. Lucario. You two might be the ones to finalize that Key Stone since it has been waiting for someone to claim it." Ilene shook her head as no one had managed to claim it to this day despite how many competitions came by.
"The Key Stone you have and Sir Aarons' staff are enhancing Lucario's Aura but the Lucarionite will complete it," Gurkinn explained.
"Oh okay." Ash understood before looking at the stone in his glove. Afterwards, Lucario, who still had his Aura flowing out, would start walking. He passed by Ash and Queen Ilene, facing away from everyone here. The Aura Pokemon looked into the far distance, gazing at the mountains.
His sight had been enhanced because of the Aura, allowing him to see beyond here. From what Lucario could gather, he managed to spot a mountain pass that was hidden by the other mountains which stuck out more. That was the mountain pass where the Lucarionite could be felt as it had a deep blue Aura compared to every other mountain he felt.
"Oh, he can sense it." Gurkinn noticed. "He's sensing Goldebron Mountain Pass already because of these enhancements. Follow him and good luck."
"Come back safely, please. Goldebron Mountain Pass is home to some powerful Pokemon because of the energy coming from it." Ilene pleaded.
"We'll be back in one piece. I've got my friends here to guarantee that!" Ash gave a thumbs-up to Ilene, guaranteeing that they would all appear once more.
Goldebron Mountain Pass.
Finally. They stood before the mountain pass. It was cleverly hidden past these larger mountains and the clouds, seeming invisible and non-existent. But not the power of Aura. The appearance of the mountain pass was just like any other. It was nothing special but the object that was residing here is what made it the place special compared to the other mountains around it.
"Remember. Wild Pokemon that are capable of Mega Evolving will show up here. They've even made this place their home, growing from it. You'll be faced with fierce Pokemon but they will only be testing you." Gurkinn questioned. "For centuries, no one has managed to make it here until now. And to the rest of you heading in there, be careful. You won't be there for Mega Evolution but that won't stop the Pokemon from targeting you."
"We'll be fine. I can have a chat with the Pokemon if things go wrong," said Fluttershy.
"We're here to see it through to the end with Ash, anyway." Rarity added.
"Yeah. Plus...there's lots of Wild Pokemon there too!" Goh's eyes lit up, eager to catch some of the Wild Pokemon that reside in Goldebron Mountain Pass.
"Just in case...Korrina. Watch over them, alright?" Gurkinn requested that her granddaughter go along with them. She was free to enter Goldebron Mountain Pass.
"You got it, grandpa!" Korrina winked. Afterwards, they would all approach the mountain pass, beginning their search for the Lucarionite. Since this was a mountain, they would have to do a lot of scaling. Well, those who couldn't fly anyway. Those that could just used their wings to traverse the area.
The mountain pass itself was cloaked in mild darkness with all the dark clouds that appeared above it. As such, this area was rather ominous, barely having any sunlight to pierce through the grey clouds. Lucario would hop over a pathway of jagged spikes, trying to use his Aura to find his way to the Lucarionite. But alas, it wasn't that easy.
"Altaria!" Soaring above nearby were a flock of Altaria who hadn't noticed Ash and his friends just yet. They were certainly capable of Mega Evolving.
"Sableye!" But a Pokemon that did notice them was a Sableye. In a nearby cave, its eyes would glimmer and sparkle, grabbing their attention. They thought they already found the Mega Stone with how it was sparkling in the darkness but it only took Sableye crawling out of it to debunk that. They would continue on their way, traversing and exploring more of this mountain pass.
"Hm?" Rarity would stop for a moment as something caught her eye. At a curved part of the mountain, she spotted a pathway of gemstones sitting next to a lake. All of these gemstones radiated colours slightly similar to Mega Evolution. "Ooohoo! Do you think this could lead the way?!" She giggled as she was also eager to snag some of these gemstones for herself.
"Maybe." Ash looked over at the pathway of colourful gemstones.
"Rrr...Lu." However, all it took was Lucario shaking his head to disprove that. These just seemed to be decorations for the mountain pass. Nothing more, nothing less. But that wouldn't stop Rarity from trying to take some with her. The moment her hoof went to touch one of the gemstones, along came a Wild Pokemon.
"Sharpedo!" The gemstone pathway was right near a lake, meaning that any Water Pokemon could travel next to it. And one of those Pokemon ended up being Sharpedo, another Mega Evolution Candidate. But it appeared to be more than just one Sharpedo. Quite a few were zooming through the lake.
"Gyarados!" But this was mainly due to the fact that they were being chased down by Gyarados. Ash and the others gasped at the sight of fierce and ferocious Pokemon, speeding across the lake with their fangs bearing. And of course, they were headed this way.
"Gyaaaah!" Rarity screeched as her mane stood up. She immediately moved to the side, narrowly avoiding the incoming Sharpedos.
"Gyara!" Gyarados would then use Hyper Beam, attempting to catch its prey in one attack. With a burst of Infinity Energy, the Atrocious Pokemon would fire the Hyper Beam straight at the Sharpedo.
The Sharpedo, with all their swiftness, managed to evade the Hyper Beam, which in turn, nearly affected Ash and his friends. The beam would crash into the nearby ground, setting off a violent explosion. Some of the ponies would fall over because of Hyper Beam's outburst, landing flat on their faces or backs. The Sharpedo then leapt out of the lake, retaliating with a synchronized Dark Pulse.
It was a fierce confrontation between the two that Ash and his friends were caught up in. The Dark Pulses would fly, going over their heads before hitting Gyarados. Safe to say, they wouldn't find the Lucarionite here. But what they did end up finding was trouble. One of the Sharpedo would notice Ash and his friends, eyeing them down.
"Sharpedo!" The Sharpedo that spotted them would go in for an attack, jumping out of the water once more. And its first target was Rarity, who was the closest to the lake.
"Force Palm!"
"Luca!" Intercepting Sharpedo's attack was Lucario. With a flare of energy in his paw, he would swing at the Brutal Pokemon in midair, dealing a super-effective blow. Sharpedo was then sent flying, tumbling and skidding across the lake.
This interception caught the attention of the other Sharpedo. After they blew away the Gyarados, they would also turn to face the ones that launched their fellow Sharpedo. Fierce eyes locked onto Lucario and everyone else as they were now targets of the Sharpedo.
"W-We should go!" Twilight suggested as she backed away as fast she could, spreading out her wings. The Sharpedo would then approach the group, zooming through the sparkling seas.
"Good idea! Aura Sphere!" But before leaving, Ash and Lucario would leave something behind.
"Luca!" By holding his hands out, Lucario slammed down a sphere of Aura right in front of the lake. The Aura would combust, sending a beautiful azure explosion. This azure light would hold back the Sharpedo as it rippled the lake, causing a mini-tsunami to occur. The Sharpedo found themselves losing their balance of this. This gave Ash and his friends the opportunity to leave, disappearing from the sights of the Sharpedo.
They continued on their way, searching for the Lucarionite. And the further they went, the more abundant the Pokemon appearances became. The Altaria from before were above them, finally spotting Ash's group as they were scaling one of the mountains.
"Tari? Altaria!" The Altaria all collectively used Ice Beam, unleashing chilling beams of ice as they were focused on the mountains. The unified Ice Beams would immediately flash-freeze the mountain they started scaling, attempting to throw them off. Truly, these Pokemon would try and mess with Ash and Lucario when they had the chance. They knew what they were here for and wouldn't let them get to it so easily.
"C-Cold!" Korrina grimaced as her hands immediately felt the harsh cold hit her. Ash, Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie felt it too. The way the mountain froze so quickly meant that they would start slipping, failing to grip onto something. Korrina's fingers couldn't dig through the ice and the ponies certainly couldn't do anything with their hooves. As such, they started screaming while sliding down the mountain.
"Ninetales! Togekiss, go!" Twilight, who was in there, threw two Poke Balls out. Out of them came Ninetales and Togekiss. One was meant for the ice and the other would rescue Twilight's falling friends. "Use Flare Blitz!"
"Ninetales!" With a flash of fire around his body, Ninetales would descend from the skies, crashing into the ice. With this mighty impact, he broke apart the ice instantly. The shattered ice would fly everywhere as the flames immediately started melting away parts of the frozen mountain.
"Toge!" Togekiss would come swooping in, catching Rarity, Applejack and Pinkie Pie on her back. The three of them bounced for a bit on Togekiss but thankfully, none of them fell off Now there was the issue of ASh, Pikachu, Lucario and Korrina, who were still sliding even when the ice was melting away.
"Luca!" However, Lucario used the spikes on his hands to save himself, stabbing them into the ice and piercing through, connecting with the mountain. Ash then held onto Lucario's arm after he stabbed into the mountain. Following that was Korrina latching onto Ash's leg and Pikachu staying on Ash's hat.
"Phew...That was close." Ash sighed at that rather close call. Thank goodness his friends were fast thinkers and had a way to solve some of the most perilous scenarios.
"Altaria!" But the Altarias weren't done. They attempted to use Ice Beam once more to try and freeze the mountain again, just to hold them all back and prevent them from reaching the Lucarionite.
"Again?!" Applejack gasped as the chilling beams of ice were shot out for a second time.
"I don't think so! Go for it, Altaria!" Rainbow Dash would send out her own Altaria to deal with these troublesome Dragon-Flying-Types. The Pokemon flew through the air, sending out the Humming Pokemon in an incandescent light which moved faster than the ice beams travelled.
"Altaria!" And upon emerging, Altaria would use Moonblast, gathering power from the moon itself. With it, she intercepted the Ice Beams with just one attack, managing to overpower them. The icy blue smoke would soon become pink because of the Fairy Magic within Moonblast. And through the smoke, Altaria would show herself, roaring at her fellow Dragons by using Hyper Voice. "Taria!"
"A-Altaria?!" The other Altaria gasped at this mighty Hyper Voice, feeling the force behind it. As such, they were intimidated by her, flying elsewhere to avoid further conflict. They were only really here to try and slow the group down, not battle with them.
Ash and the others could catch a break yet again but they knew more Pokemon would show up to try and stop them. They all managed to climb back up the mountain once all the ice had been melted. Once they reached the top, already, something new was waiting for them. With Ash helping Korrina up the mountain, he and his friends all turned their heads to see magma. Of all things they had to run into next, it had to be magma.
And with magma, Camerupt could be found here. Another candidate for Mega Evolution. And compared to the others, Camerupt looked rather peaceful here, grazing on some grass that could be found on this mountain pass. Miraculously, the grass hasn't come into contact with the nearby magma pools. Two caves that were nestled here also seemed to be safe from them.
"How much further until we find this stone?" Rarity questioned. "We didn't have to go through this when we were going for our own Mega Stones. I honestly wish we chose that Mega Evolution Camp instead of this."
"We just have to keep going," said Ash. "It wasn't gonna be easy and that's gonna make it all the more satisfying once we get that stone. It's gonna stand out from everything else here so let's look out for that."
"Maybe it's at the very centre." Fluttershy theorized. "We could try and find the middle of the mountain pass and maybe find the Lucarionite there. What do you think?"
"I hope so. I tried flying high up and couldn't spot that stone anywhere." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "I mean it's pretty small so that makes sense. We could-" Before anyone could continue on their way, they were all interrupted by yet another Pokemon attack. This time, a powerful tremor is what interrupted them. And the one responsible for that was an Aggron.
"Aggron!" Aggron roared, stomping its legs on the ground to summon tremendous ground shockwaves. These shockwaves affected those already on the ground but not those in the air. And unfortunately, Rainbow Dash was the only one airborne at the moment. Thus, her friends were being thrown off balance, wobbling and shaking at the presence of this earthquake.
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash looked over at the Steel-Rock-Type. Immediately, she took action, throwing another Poke Ball out as Mienshao was summoned.
"MIenshao!"
"Use Aura Sphere!"
"Mien...Shao!" Mienshao swung into action immediately, wasting no time to build up a quick Aura Sphere. It wouldn't be as powerful as a fully charged one but it would be strong enough against Aggron, who was very vulnerable to this kind of attack. A hyper-fast Aura Sphere was thrown, striking the Iron Armor Pokemon with heavy super-effective damage.
"A-Aggron!" Aggron stumbled back from the Aura Sphere but it wasn't the only one stumbling and falling. Ash and the others fell from Aggron's Earthquake, rolling down the rocky hills of this part of the mountain.
"Oh, wait!" Rainbow Dash held her head as she couldn't exactly do anything about this problem as opposed to the Aggron encounter. As such, Ash and his friends went sliding down with some of them going in different directions. Around the area where Camerupt was feasting on grass, the two caves were their only destinations. Each of them slid into different caves as one seemed to go lower than the other. Quickly, Rainbow Dash would try and pursue them but she had two caves to choose from. She would choose the right one, flying through it to try and catch up.
As said by Gurkinn, the Pokemon would not make this easy for them. And Queen Ilene did pray for their safe return. Everything about this place was dangerous, mainly because of how the Pokemon reacted to the energy that exists in this Mountain Pass. The quest for the Lucarionite was ramping up faster than any of them expected but for Ash and Lucario, this would only fuel their spirit to obtain this Mega Stone as the journey continues.
Chapter 92 End.