//------------------------------// // Path to Gigantamax // Story: My Little Pokémon: Grander World // by Amarvax //------------------------------// Galar. The Isle of Armor. Master Dojo. The Pokemon Festival. Afternoon. After succeeding in the Slowpoke Trial, Sci-Twi found herself receiving a Bulbasaur as her newest Pokemon. But not just an ordinary Bulbasaur. This one was capable of Gigantamaxing. But there was only one way to make it work, which was about to be revealed. Getting cosy with his new trainer was Bulbasaur, who was over the moon to be chosen. Sci-Twi laughed as it was difficult to contain Bulbasaur's happiness. The only way to do that was by letting him enter his Poke Ball. Present here as well were Rarity, Applejack and the Cutie Mark Crusaders who had just shown up to witness the Master's Dojo and everything involved in it. "Dynamax is something that is available for every Pokemon. No matter what, they can tap into te Galar Region's wonderful phenomenon. But Gigantamax requires something entirely different. Only a few Pokemon can harness its power and the way to access it is with a recipe. I'm quite eager to cook it up right now. The Max Soup. It sure has been a while." "Max Soup? So it's food?" Ash added. "And it's delicious! To the Pokemon, that is. Which is why I invited two people to help out for this part of the trial. And as for that second trial, it shall be Mushroom picking!" "Mushroom Picking? That's what's next?" Rainbow Dash didn't expect such a standard task to be the next mission. It didn't sound any different from apple picking, berry picking or anything else related to that back at Equestria. This didn't seem like it would bring that much trouble to her or anyone else "How fun!" Fluttershy clapped her hooves, being rather excited for this. "Max Mushrooms are the key to Gigantamaxing and I'm tasking the winners with finding three. You'll notice them with a spiral pattern. I'm pretty sure they grow in dark, humid places." Before Mustard could continue, the door behind everyone would open up. One of the people Mustard spoke had finally arrived and it was someone that could be expected to be here at the Master's Dojo, even during the Pokemon Festival. "Ah! Perfect timing." Showing up here was none other than Stow-on-Side's Gym Leader Bea. She could be seen having a towel behind her head as she had just finished training as usual and she was currently assisting Mustard's Dojo. "Bea!" Pinkie Pie bellowed after seeing her good friend. She would frantically wave at her sweet-toothed friend, grabbing her attention. "Hey, Bea!" "P-Pinkie?!" Bea stuttered. Normally, she'd be elated to see Pinkie Pie, but not right now. She feared that Pinkie came here with sweets and knowing the Earth Pony, she most likely did. Bea wanted to keep her love of sweets secretive from many and with quite the crowd here, she might be exposed. Thankfully, Pinkie Pie didn't show any sweets at all, vowing to keep Bea's secret safe from the public. "Glad you could show up, Bea. Allister will show himself later. Maybe not to all at you at once." Mustard said. "Allister? Is that why he came here too? He's pretty young to be teaching, isn't he?" said Fluttershy."And be a Gym Leader too." "I sometimes come here to the Master's Dojo to train myself. It's one of the best places for me to focus and Master Mustard is the best teacher I could've asked for." Bea spoke. This wasn't her first time here and it won't be her last. "At times, I even assist in Master Mustard's lessons, helping the students And I see you all have found yourselves here in the Isle of Armor" "Yep. We were looking for Cobalion and well, here we are." Ash chuckled as this simple search for Cobalion led to this scenario. But no one was complaining. "Great seeing you again, Bea. And to see you getting stronger." "My defeat to you was never a setback, Ash. Even if I have ways to go if I want to catch up to you, I'd love to have that heart-pounding battle with you again." "Bea and Allister both have Gigantamaxed Pokemon of their own. They came here to the Isle of Armor to get a taste of that sweep Max Soup. Anyone familiar with their battles will know about their Gigantamaxed Pokemon and now it's your turn to experience those mushrooms. Head back here and we can make something tasty." The other students set off as it was back to the wilds of the Isle of Armor. The second trial had started and it would hopefully be less hyperactive and energy-consuming as the Slowpoke trial. "So did Pikachu get a taste of Max Soup back in the day?" Ash kneeled to face his partner, wondering if he has tried the Max Soup since he was capable of Gigantamaxing. "Pika?" "Hee hee! It seems to me that your Pikachu naturally has it!" Mustard chuckled "Lucky you to have such a partner." "Don't worry, Squirtle. I'll take care of you, darling." Honey said. She would be the one to choose Squirtle after Sci-Twi chose Bulbasaur. "I'll make you oh-so-strong you won't lose to Bulbasaur." "Squirtle!" "Ash. I already know from Leon that you have a Gengar. Now might be a good time to have him taste the soup. That's where Allister can help you. I'd say he'd be glad to give a hand once he sees your Gengar." "In that case..." Holding up Gengar's Poke Ball, Ash summoned the Shadow Pokemon. "Gengar!" "Ya know, maybe you should let some of your Pokemon take a crack at it. Some of them can Gigantamax, right?" Rainbow Dash suggested. "Oh, there just wouldn't be enough soup for all of those Pokemon!" Mustard giggled. "Those mushrooms are big but they won't give enough for all those Pokemon. "It's fine, Dash. Right now, I'm focused on who I have now. And I wanna help Gengar get stronger, just like everyone else I've been with all these years. Right, Gengar?" "Gen!" "By the way, Master Mustard." Finally, Sci-Twi would be the one to bring up the encounter back at the Soothing Wetlands. It involved the Pokemon Kubfu. "When we were doing the first trial, we encountered a strange Pokemon along the way. Its name was Kubfu. Was that part of the trial?" "Hm? Was it?" But Mustard didn't give a clear answer, putting on a cheesy grin. "Well, you'll have to find out when you run into that Pokemon again. Good luck!" "I'll see to it if they're ready to have their Pokemon try the Max Soup." Bea's role in this was about to come into play. The Power of Gigantamax isn't something that can be lightly obtained after all." "Now then. What about you five?" Mustard's attention turned to Rarity's group. They were rather late to things and even though they had no idea what was going on, judging by that look on Mustard's grin, he already had something planned. While these trials went on, Celestia and Luna were still busy doing their own thing. At the moment, Celestia was still focusing on finding Cobalion and luckily for her, he did in fact leave hoofprints. Celestia followed the prints more and more as she ended up in a cave this time. "Oh?" During her search, she noticed how the distance between the hooves had increased. Previously, each hoofprint was close to each other, showing that Cobalion was trotting. But now that they've gained some distance, it showed Celestia that he started galloping and the beginning point was this cave. "This means he accelerated to the next area as soon as possible. This entire time, we've seen forward steps at a standard pace." "So where was he running to?" Luna asked. "Probably somewhere that wasn't in the Isle of Armor. I'm starting to think that Cobalion went elsewhere." Cobalion observed. "He might be in the Crown Tundra instead. But..." Even though she observed that Cobalion was in another part of Galar, her time here at the Isle of Armor wasn't over. Following these hoofprints could lead to something interesting before she heads for the Crown Tundra. She followed the galloping hoofprints, prompting Luna to do the same. When moving across the cave and passing by many Pokemon, Celestia started witnessing what appeared to be burned hoofprints. Something had burned the hoofprints of Cobalion during is gallop as there were also three more hoofprints up ahead. These belonged to Terrakion, Virizion and Keldeo, proving that all three swords were here. Not just Cobalion. When looking at these burn marks, they reminded Celestia and Luna of the fist prints on the walls that were incredibly hot. But these were different. Instead of flames, when touching these hoofprints, Celestia discovered that they were electrifying. Electricity had been left behind here instead of Fire. "This is electricity. It can still be as hot as fire but it's obviously not the same as the fist-prints on the walls," said Celestia. "I can see that the Swords of Justice were near whoever caused this." "Do you think it was the Despair Plants? Cynthia did say that Leon went to the Isle of Armor to defend it during the Black Crusade. There might have been a Despair Plant that generated electricity." "Hmm...I don't think so." Celestia thought otherwise. "This electricity feels more like Infinity Energy. This was done by a Pokemon. And it has to be a powerful one to leave electricity behind for so long." "They would have to match my Zekrom's electricity." Now Luna was fully curious. "What Pokemon is capable of that?" "No clue. But whoever it is, the Swords of Justice encountered it." Celestia now had an extra reason to try and find Cobalion. She also wanted to figure out who caused these electrical marks. Celestia already had a feeling that this mystery Pokemon might be nearby. Forest of Focus. The Forest of Focus. Located here at the Isle of Armor, this forest was the prime place to find Max Mushrooms and way to focus the mind. Floating alongside Ash was Gengar, who was a prime canditate for Max Mushrooms and leading them both into the forest was Bea. Some students were already picking some of the mushrooms tat could be found here and getting a head start was Fluttershy. "I got some!" Fluttershy already had some Max Mushrooms at her disposal as she and Audino were carrying at least 6 of them. For someone like Applejack, this was easy. She feeds Pokemon and animals all the time by finding what they love. If anything, this trial was made for Applejack. "That quickly...? Do you even have a Pokemon that can Gigantamax?" Sci-Twi asked. "Actually, she does. That Raboot of yours is capable of tapping into the same power as Pikachu or even Gengar." Bea answered. "Only as a Cinderace, as you can tell." "A Gigantamax Cinderace? Oh, that sounds wonderful! I'll have to get Raboot to that level first though." "Yeah! But we're already close to that level! This will be a blast!" Ash exclaimed. "Give it your best, Gengar!" "Gen-Gen!" "This the form that you should be striving towards." Bea held out her Rotomphone, showing Ash and Gengar just what Giganatmax Gengar appeared as. While it didn't look too much different from an average Gengar, there were two noticeable differences. For starters, Gengar's body was all torso and nothing else. Then again, Gengar himself was practically a ball with arms and legs but in this case, there were no legs and only the upper part of his body while everything else has sunk into the ground. The other noticeable feature was the massive mouth Gengar had. He already had a big mouth with a bright grin, but this looked like he could consume an entire building. The extra part was the incredibly long tongue Gigantamax Gengar now possessed. "Oooh..." Ash and the others admired. "The mouth on that Gengar!" Lucas was flabbergasted. "Where was this when I saw Gigantamaxed Pokemon?" "Gengar!" Gengar's pupils lit up. He really liked what he was seeing. To obtain such a form would be wonderful. "Allister is the one you can count on to have Gengar Gigantamax. And he should be nearby here..." Bea came to a halt, stopping near a long dressing of vines that hung from a wall. These vines were secluded from all the trees, bushes and the few bridges that can be found here. While everyone else was scattered, searching for mushrooms, Ash's group would focus on only one place, looking ot one Gym Leader. Allister. Speaking of which, slowly moving the vines was none other than Allister. The vines ended up being a door that was masked as frail and long vines. "Hey, Allister. Great to see you again. We're here for-" But before Ash could finish, Allister closed the vine door. Everyone went silent for a moment once Allister shut the door. But moments later, he reopened it, slowly gazing at Ash's group. Looking at them closer, he recognized Bea, a fellow Galarian Gym Leader. And he most definitely recognized Fluttershy, who he's talked to the most so far. "Are you here about the Max Mushrooms...?" "Well..yeah." As chuckled as that was what he was getting to from the beginning. "Here to top up Gengar. Bea and Mustard told us that you're the person to come to for that." "You...You want to Gigantamax?" Allister glanced over at the Shadow Pokemon. "Gengar! Gen!" Gengar flexed his muscles, eager for a massive boost in size and strength. "I see..." Understanding, Allister let the door fully open so that they could enter. But after he opened the door, he would suddenly walk backwards, moving in the manner of a ghost with his hands down and head lowered. Even if he was moving in an odd manner, distancing himself from the others, they were still allowed to enter. Once they entered through this concealed part of the forest, they were met with a stadium of all things. Miraculously, a stadium could be found here at the Isle of Armor and it was rather wide too, having a few Dynamax Power Spots nearby. This stadium had walls and everything but no ceiling for obvious reasons. Sci-Twi had to wonder how this was done. It was either magic or possibly the result of a Ghost casting an illusion. Considering that Allister was here, the latter was most likely the right answer. "What's with this place?" Pinkie asked. "Mew..." "It was set up by Ghost Magic. Since Allister sometimes comes here, he needs a place to work so this was made." Bea explained. "I don't need one since anywhere is my training area." "Alright...Give it a try, Ash..." Allister said, coming to a halt. He had all the space in the world to unleash the power of Dynamax. Or in this case, Gigantamax. Gengar's Gigantamax form was the main objective here and perhaps, using the power in a Ghost-surrounded place could unleash it. "Right. Got it!" Ash already had the Dynamax Band on, ready for usage. With his Poke Ball out, Ash returned the Shadow Pokemon. Immediately, the Dynamax Energy would start flowing. It flared from his band and soon the Poke Ball. It enlarged in Ash's hand, prompting him to launch it upwards. "Here goes! Here's hoping for Gigantamax!" The skies above would darken, unleashing the phenomenon of the Galar Region. As Gengar emerged from the Poke Ball, he was already growing in size. His eyes flashed purple for a moment before showing his enlarged body. "Gen...GEN! GENGAR!" The result? It was just an ordinary Dynamaxed Gengar. Not Gigantamax. "Hmm...That didn't do the trick." Twilight shook her head. "That's not Gigantamax Gengar." "I think we can get it! Let's get that mouth as wide as possible, Gengar! "GENGAAAR!" Opening his mouth, he tried replicating the absolute titan of a mouth a Gigantamax Gengar has. He certainly made it wider but it wasn't quite the same. He even stuck his tongue out just like Gigantamax Gengar and while he could make it rather long, it wasn't on the same level. "Wider!" Ash cheered. "Go Gengar, give it all you got!" "Pika-Pika!" Both Pikachus would try and encourage him. Soon Mew and Audino would do the same. "GAAAAAAR!" And Gengar would gladly widen his mouth some more. Even though he didn't reach the Gigantamax Form, it was still impressive that Gengar could open his mouth that wide at all. "Forcing it won't do..." Bea sighed. "You're going to have to use the mushrooms." "Ash..." Allister spoke. Unexpectedly, he appeared next to Ash without any footsteps being heard, jumpscaring him. "Your Gengar can only Dynamax. No matter how hard you try, you can't force him to Gigantamax. "GEN?!" Gengar twitched after hearing that. So much for the first try. He let out some tears before shrinking back to his original size, absolutely gutted. "Gengar..." "Yeah. I figured we needed the mushrooms first. I just wanted to try it out." Ash laughed. "Fluttershy and Audino already got some of them right here." "Let's start cooking, please!" Fluttershy excitedly wiggled the mushrooms around. "If I can get this recipe down, I could make my own Max Soup!" "Audino!" "Hold it." Bea raised a finger. "Ash's Gengar is worthy enough to eat the soup. My battles with him are proof of that. But all of you on the other hand? You've yet to prove it to me." "What? Come on. I don't have a Pokemon that has a Gigantamax Form. At least...I don't think I do, but everyone here's worthy. You saw them at the Black Crusade, remember?" Rainbow Dash added. "Isn't that enough?" "I'd like to try out your strength for myself. That is why Mustard appointed me. You can make the recipe but you have to engage in a battle with me so I can judge if you're ready for that kind of power. Gigantamax isn't just an upgrade. It changes a lot about the Pokemon, much like Mega Evolution." "I guess so..." Rainbow Dash scratched her mane. "You're always so strict, geez." "Other Twilight. Fluttershy. You two are the only ones I know of with Pokemon that have the capability to eventually Gigantamax. I will take you both on." "Both of us?!" The duo gasped. They were about to enter a double battle against Bea. It would be her against Fluttershy and Sci-Twi. Quite the shocking reveal and also intimidating since Bea carries that fierce aura with her. "Hmmm..." Lucas thought for a moment, wondering if he had a Pokemon that could Gigantamax. Alas, no one came to mind right now. None of his Pokemon on hand could do it. "Dang it..." Sci-Twi gulped as she was about to enter yet another Pokemon Battle. This time, it was against the Fighting-Type Gym Leader Bea, who was a fierce opponent for Ash. She already witnessed the skills of Mustard but how will Bea do against her? Thankfully, she would have a backup in the form of Fluttershy. But even Fluttershy wasn't all into battling and mainly acted as a support trainer. One thing was for sure, Fluttershy does do well in double battles as seen during the Canterlot Tag Tournament. The Path to Gigantamax was an interesting path to power that only a few Pokemon could truly obtain. And only a few trainers could really grasp the power beyond Dynamax. Bea was about to see if Fluttershy and Sci-Twi were worthy of grasping it as the journey continues. Chapter 302 End.