We walk through the raining-as-usual city of Great Barrier and duck under the awning of the local Devon branch building, and attempt to get dry as best we can before heading inside soaking wet.
What we see first when we get inside is a tasteful lobby, and we’re assaulted by an airstream that drags the moisture off us. The floor is a thick glass or crystal pane covering over a huge variety of fossils set up like a mosaic. There’s a few people sitting at a table nearby, one of two such tables. They look like researchers, except one who looks like a Ranger. Whatever they’re talking about, it seems like they’re really into it. There’s a secretary behind the lobby desk, smiling and humming to herself as she works.
I walk up to the secretary. “Excuse me, uhm, who would we talk to about your work on Mega Evolution?” I must say, out of all things, it’s the one I’m most excited on getting my hands on first. Wonder what pokémon on my team can Mega Evolve...
“Oh! There’s a tour in a couple hours... or, wait... oh, it’s nearly noon, nevermind. It’s in about three minutes. Unless you meant buying an Evolite? You need four badges, and they’ll be available at most Pokemarts.”
“Ah, well the thing is I’d have to know what one of those is and all. Let’s just say I’ve been out of the loop for a while and I’m trying to catch up. So where does the tour start?”
“Well, the guide will be down... oh, there he is! Dr. Kale!” she waves off to one side, and a young man in a labcoat and staring at his éTech looks up. “Oh, hey Bethany... wait, is the tour starting already?” he asks, looking a bit surprised. “I’m sorry if I kept you three waiting.” he says to... well, the three of us.
“No, still a few minutes.” I reassure him. “We’re just early I suppose.”
“Oh, thank goodness. I’m actually pretty new here; I’m the intern.” he says, extending a hand for a shake. then, he realizes he’s about ten feet away, and steps forward to try again.
“Trust me, it’s no problem. I remember what it’s like to have a first week. Never easy. But you seem like you’ll do well if you ask me, as long as you know what you’re talking about. Arceus knows I didn’t when I started my first job.”
He chuckles. “Yeah. Here, I don’t think anyone else is coming, not with this rain. It’s coming down pretty hard.” he says.
“Goes to show who’s tough enough to weather it. Or stupid I suppose. Either way, here we are. And an unplanned private tour sounds pretty nice. You’ve got a pretty curious couple of guests here.” I say indicating myself and Twilight. Rarity is mainly here because there was nothing else for her to do in all this rain.
“Well, let’s get it started! Uh, I’m supposed to take you up the building first, then come back down through the basement. This way!” he says, waving them along and heading back up the stairs to the second floor. “Well, how much do you know of Devon already?”
“Can’t speak for the girls, but I know that you guys deal with more personal experiments and research with Pokémon. Silph Co. has invented more devices that are used worldwide as well as being a larger chain, but they also don’t tend to do any work with actual pokémon, so Devon is smaller, originating as a small building in Hoenn, but more personal and it’s inventions are more intended for pokémon rather than their trainers. Right?”
He looks at me with surprise, eyebrows high. “Wow. Maybe you should be leading the tour...” he mumbles, then checks his notes, which I see are on his éTech. “Uh... well, yeah, you’re right.”
“Don’t worry, I’m not gonna take your job. As far as your actual experiments and developments... I’m about forty years behind.” Assuming Ash got to Hoenn the same time I did.
“Oh, well, then let me catch you up!” he says, smiling. “Well, we’ve made numerous developments. Here on your left, we have dozens of programmers, chemists, pokémon professors, and other scientific persons. They’re all working on Evolite, an artificial crystal developed at first by accident. Originally an attempt to create artificial Evolution stones, the first Evolite crystal was found to have the same radiation patterns used by Tyranitar to Mega-Evolve. the project got shuffled, and... well, there’s somewhere along the lines of forty-ish listed Mega Evolutions discovered through alterations and modifications to the Evolite matrix.” he says, and sure enough, the large area beyond looks like a typical office space, full of cubicles and computers, and people milling around or working hard on those computers.
Twilight raises her hand like a student. I sigh. “Just ask him, Twi.”
“Oh, right.” She blushes. “What’s ‘mega evolution’?”
I admit, I know next to nothing about it myself other than it requires a strong bond between Pokémon and trainer. More of that ‘Friendship is magic’ stuff being used to beef up pokémon.
He brightens up noticeably. “That’s actually my field of study! Mega Evolution isn’t fully understood still, but what we know of it is that when a pokémon has a powerful enough bond with their trainer and is then exposed to large amounts of particular forms of radiation unique to that particular species. The result is a powerful, but short-lived super-powered state for that pokémon. Only the strongest of emotions can trigger a Mega Evolution, most notably the strongest of Friendships, true love, and, we’ve unfortunately found, bitter hatred and utter terror. We’ve, ah, done very little research into those last two, for hopefully understandable reasons.”
“Yeah, hurting pokémon isn’t exactly the kind of things good people do.” I assure him. “And this Evolite... the secretary said it could be bought if you have four badges. What purpose does it serve to a trainer? What’s it’s exact relation to Mega Evolution?”
“Oh, it replaces the naturally-occurring Mega Stones, as it’s far easier to make than they are to find. There’s less than two-hundred instances of the natural Mega Stones found in the world each year, and of all sorts of varieties. The Evolite is affordable, and it works on any pokémon species we’ve found the right signature for.”
“So when you say Evolite Matrix, you’re referring to a matrix of signatures that any pokémon that can Mega Evolve will be able to draw their signature from, as long as theirs is logged into the Evolite Matrix, accessible through the Evolite itself?” Twilight asks, beating me to the question. It is good to know that we’re on the same wavelength here though.
Dr. Kale nods. “Yeah! We have to produce updated Evolite every few years, as new forms are discovered. And, of course, Mr. Devon mandated that the Evolite can be replaced with newer ones with only a 100 
charge for restocking fees. Not everyone wants to swap them out, and we’re always willing to sell the older versions to people who don’t need one. For example, the original series of Evolite works on all the Mega Evolutions found naturally in the Hoenn region, like Camerupt or Gyarados.”
“And later versions cover other forms like Alakazam and such?” I ask for clarification. “But not everyone will have an Alakazam so they don’t need the updated one so it’s not a good deal until you develop a version with a Mega Evo the said trainer can use?”
“Precisely. And, of course, we’re always looking for new ones, and we’ve even found five or six that don’t have associated natural Mega Stones as far as we know.” he says.
“Sounds useful. Moreso than buying and carrying around a bunch of Mega Stones for your whole team. And I assume the ‘four badges’ limit is put in place for balance as well as limiting them to trainers who have the experience to be responsible with them, similar to the higher tier pokeballs that Silph designs.”
“Right. That and most trainers don’t have a strong enough bond to even use them before then, so it keeps new trainers from wasting their money on something they can’t use. They’re really talked up in advertisements and talk shows, so many trainers start out wanting to get them right away.”
“So aside from Mega Evolution, what else has Devon been researching?” I’m still very interested in Mega Stones and how the Evolite works but I want more questions answered.
“Oh, plenty of things... I’ll show you on the next floor!” he says, waving us onward. “Up here, we can restore fossils, and have been working on numerous archeological projects. One of the things we’ve really wanted to get worked on, and have been enabled by the engineers here in Otaria, is true deep-sea searching for fossils and ancient pokémon.” He waves us around, and this floor looks more like a lab. In fact, it’s like it’s straight out of Jurassic Park. “The local species of fossilized pokémon are all notably more violent and aggressive than in other regions. Stinultra and Scorpirex are pretty terrifying to look at, too.” he says, shuddering.
“And about how many species can you reliably revive here in this lab alone?” I ask.
“Oh, around twenty.” he says. I can see the fossils for Kabuto, Omanyte, Shieldon, and others. There’s even a large chunk of amber in what looks like a hi-tech cradle.
“And how long does the process take? Several months?” Twilight asks. “And what’s that a fossil of?” She says, pointing to what I think is a Root fossil.
“Ah... Root fossil, I think. This isn’t my department.” he says, blushing.
One of the scientists comes closer. “Hey, Kale, this a tour group?” he asks. Our guide nods his head. “Cool! I was actually about to finish reviving a fossil, should answer the cutie’s question.” he winks at Twilight, smiling, drawing a blush from her.
We are led to another device this one looking similar but with a tank connected to it, creating an underwater, sea-floor environment perfect for a Lileep or Omanyte.
He flips some switches, and presses a button, pulling out a large, spiralling fossil and sticks it into one side, where it is levitated in midair, and a laser-beam-type thing begins to dissolve it in layers. Honestly, it looks like something out of Tron’s ‘download’ process. “There we go, all the sampling had been done earlier this week, so we already know how it’ll turn out. It appears it’ll be around level eleven and should be varicolored.” he says, smiling back at us, though mostly to Twilight.
I take out my éTech to scribble down notes. “And how can you tell the level or if it’ll be varicoloured or not? Is there specific genetic code you can gain from studying the fossil, or is it all speculation based on similarities to previous revivals?”
“Oh, the sequencer checks its DNA, as well as analyzing its growth stages to figure out what level it was at. There’s still residual life energy in the fossil, or else we wouldn’t be able to revive it, and that energy is like DNA for how powerful the pokémon had gotten.”
“Fascinating....” I put his response into my notes. “So that looks like a Helix fossil, the designation for the remains of an Omanyte, right?”
“Yup! They’re pretty common all over the place, but they’re most common in the Kanto and Johto regions. I also have a Dome fossil I’m going to be reviving later today, it’s nearly done sequencing.” he says. On the screen attached to the machine, various stats and details show up, and the guy adjusts a few dials and slides a few icons around on the screen. Then, he hits a button quite obviously the ‘start process’ button, which begins doing the tron thing again, this time inside the tank.
I watch as the Omanyte materializes in front of me. “You mentioned this starting last week. Is that the typical duration for helix fossils or is it the same for all fossils? Or, is it variable?”
“Well, most fossils only take a week or so, though a couple species are notably more complex. And there’s one that has had some problems; we’re still not sure what went wrong with Carpalethe, but it didn’t revive properly.” he says, shaking his head. “It wasn’t a failure, just not what we’d expected.”
“Not to seem like a reporter or anything with all the questions, but what do you mean it didn’t revive ‘properly’?”
“Uh, we were expecting something like a large Dragon-type, judging by the arm fossils we found. However, it turned out to be a partial Ghost Type, and they search for digsites, presumably to find the rest of their bodies. However, we’ve only ever found more of the forearms and claws. And they never seem to manifest anything else.”
“So you couldn’t identify the type it would be because it was a new fossil your machines weren’t familiar with, or is it more complex than that?” I ask inquisitively. This is simply fascinating!
“More complex. The energy signature was... confused. Fragmental, really. I was on the team first sequencing it, and, to be honest, we all thought it matched Dragon types the most. However, we revived the first few together, as ancient pokémon usually do better in small groups when first revived. Once we have a decent-sized population, we can then simply put new arrivals one by one with them” he says, as the Omanyte nears completion. “But in Carpalethe’s case, we put in the forearm and got... well, two forearms and a ball of ectoplasm, really. It also didn’t seem all that confused, like most pokémon are when they first revive.”
I nod, understanding. “I see and would the fossil being Ghost type lead to assumptions that there were fully corporeal ghost types like Drifblim and therefore able to die and fossilize, how old is the fossil to get an idea of a Ghost type’s lifespan?”
The man is about to respond but he’s caught off by a yelp of surprise and we see Twilight with the Omanyte on her arm. “I just wanted to feel the shell! It won’t let go!”
I laugh. “Sorry Twi, but I don’t know much about Omanyte really, no more than the usual trainer. You’re gonna need to figure that out yourself.”
The researcher chuckles, and reaches over, gently stroking the pokémon between the eyes, and it relaxes its grip. “I, meanwhile, have been working with extinct pokémon for the last several years. He was just startled by, as far as he knew, falling asleep and then waking up somewhere completely different. Don’t worry, unlike Omastar, they don’t tend to nibble when nervous.” he says, picking up the heavy pokémon with a grunt and drops it back into the tank, where it scoots around a little, apparently calming down.
“Seriously though Twilight, don’t just stick your hand in a tank.” I admonish her.
“Right, sorry, just curious.” She says, a little quiet.
“Hey, no problem. The thing I’m most worried about is something happening to the pokémon. Speaking of, is that tank a one-way mirror like at the aquarium, or can it see us from in there?” The second part is aimed at the scientist next to me.
The scientist laughs and waves his hand in front of the tank, the Omanyte’s gaze following it as it moves. “This tank is meant for relatively docile pokémon, and we find it best to let them see humans as quickly as possible; otherwise, we’d never be able to get them acclimated to humanity’s presence.”
“Right. And about how long do you keep a pokémon before setting it into the wild, likely in a comfortable habitat?”
“Well, first, we move them to the Basement here; you’ll understand when you see. Then, we move them out to the Preserve, where they can grow used to modern pokémon species.” he shrugs. “Times are based on the individual pokémon.” The little purple tentacles on the omanyte twitch and wiggle as it begins floating slowly around the tank.
“And exactly how much does the process cost? Like the machine, the habitat-tank, the power the machine needs, the tools used in the beginning study... how much would you say it all takes, moneywise?”
“Uh... lots? I’m not entirely sure, I’m not running finances or anything. But I’d wager it’s along the lines of a multi-million Poké setup for this lab alone.” he says, shrugging again.
“Well, I can’t really think of any more questions... oh, wait. You know prehistoric pokémon, right? Like, you work with them directly?”
“Of course! Did you have any questions about any in particular?”
I turn to Twilight. “Show him Twirunt.”
Twilight gasps happily and releases her pokémon, the little Tyrunt appearing and looking around, then looking confusedly up at Twilight.
“Twirunt, named somewhat after his surrogate mom here, was ah... well he was the only egg that survived the Chainer operations at the Reserve facility. Was kind of a shock when he hatched, thought all the eggs had gone cold. So what can you tell us about this guy other than he’s one hardy little fella?”
The scientist’s expression darkens for a moment at the mention of the Chainers, but upon being asked to take a look, he kneels down, still maintaining a bit of height and looks up at Twilight. “Can you ask him to sit down? If you’ve rather adopted him, it’s best if you give him orders; he probably wouldn’t listen to me.” Twilight nods, then asks, Twirunt sitting down hesitantly. The scientist’s gaze runs over the small pokémon, and he carefully checks it over.
“Well, my diagnosis is... he’s perfectly healthy. In fact, just a little more healthy than I’d expect from one his size, and his ruff is coming in more fully than I’d expect. Whoever his father was, it must’ve been an impressive pokémon.” he says, smiling up at Twilight while gently petting the pokémon’s head.
“Do you think that machine, or one of them, could tell us what his father was? Like, just species?” I ask, now curious.
“Probably not. The few times we’ve successfully reunited prehistoric families was by pure accident, I’m afraid. However, if the father wasn’t from a prehistoric line, but rather a modern, breeder or trainer owned pokémon, then they’d be in the League’s registry. Every pokémon brought in for breeding an endangered, recovering, or revived line back into plentiful bounty, they’re kept careful track of.”
“So could you do like a DNA test of this guy or something and narrow it down from the pokémon that have been recorded to breed with any Tyrantrum?” I inquire. I’ve always been interested in genetics and how they work. “Heh, maybe we can find the guy and tell him he’s an uncle or something.”
“Hmmm... shouldn’t be a big pool to check from. Again, you can check the database whenever you’d like, it’s open access.” he says, smiling.
“Alright then...” I pull out my éTech and begin searching, though Twilight finds it before me. “Here we are. Only... wow, only ten records, one’s another Trainer-bred Tyrantrum and... there’s a few in the uh... Charizard line... And... Anthony, what’s a Salamence?”
“Dragon Type, real powerful if the trainer knows what it’s doing. A very impressive bit of evolution. It evolved and got wings due to a desire to as the rumor goes. Anything else there?”
“Yeah uh... A Garchomp and and as I said the rest are Charizard.”
I nod. “Let’s check the others first. So how do we figure out what this guy’s dad was?”
“Well, now that we have that figured out, a quick test can figure out what types the father was, which should help us figure out from that list. At the very least, figuring out if it’s flying or not would be able to halve the list, right?” he says, smiling.
“Right. So do we have him, like, spit in a cup or do you need a blood sample?”
“Actually, just a single hair is fine.” he says, taking a single hair from Twirunt’s mane, the ruff shedding it easily. He takes the hair and moves to a machine across the lab, which he mentions is the Sequencer, and the machine grabs the hair in its anti-grav grasp and begins to scan it. A few moments later, and it shows that the father has the flying type. Well, that narrows it down.
“Alright, so that narrows it down to... not the male Tryantrum. Still the Ch-”
The second type is revealed to be Fire type.
“Okay, that’s a Charizard. Is there a way to narrow it down further or is it too complex?” Twilight asks.
“Actually, there’s only one Charizard who ever had time in the Primal Reserve. You, miss, got lucky, because that Tyrunt is the offspring of the Champion’s Charizard.”
My eyes bug out. “Wh- Y- Holy crap, man. Dude, Twilight, That’s insane! That’s awesome, and so cool! The champion’s charizard is your baby’s dad! ...That came out wrong.” The others all look a bit shocked at the way I worded that. Ah well. Still, so awesome! “The point is, if you train Twirunt and get him strong... It’ll be like having a pokémon the champion gave you! This little guy is, well, only on a technical scale but he’s practically royalty or something!”
I stare at the Tyrunt as it just looks around the room, oblivious to its cultural stature.
Twilight looks down. “Huh. I have honestly no idea how to feel about this. I mean... I’ve known royalty most of my life, but...”
“Feel proud, I would! I mean, you lucked out like nobody else! This guy’s gonna get you far if it takes after its father. It takes a lot of skill and power to become a champion, and a pokémon the champ has raised is, like, the coolest present ever, and this... this is like second best possible! Wonder if the champ even knows this little guy’s alive...”
“Probably, actually. I’ve met him once, and he does care about his pokémon.”
“Wow, so... who knows, maybe he expects some trainer to come fight him with a Tyrantrum and then his Charizard can test its biological son... and you’re it’s adopted mom! Twilight that is so cool!”
She giggles. “Yeah, I guess.” she says, smiling and crouching down to give her Tyrunt some scratching, which he happily accepts.
“So, you know a lot about Tyrunt in general so... how do we take care of one?” I ask the researcher.
“Well, give him lots to chew on, make sure to give him fairly strict instructions, and don’t let him stay awake too long. As long as he’s well fed and cared for, he’s going to be pretty easy to take care of. The sheer number of available pokémon from ancient times and prehistoric times in this region means there’s plenty of information available on this.” he says, “If you’d like, I can send you a few copies of the studies.” he offers to Twilight.
“Heh, a ‘how to raise’ manual would have been great when taking care of Spike... sure, I’ll take them.” Twilight replies with a laugh.
He happily gives her the info, along with his number, and asks her to call him if she ever needs help.
“Yeah, this is great, but I wanna see what else the tour still has to offer.” I say, walking back to Dr. Kale. “Come on, who knows, maybe we’ll learn something even cooler!”
“Oh, yeah! The next floor is tech research and the break room. This way!” he says, and the four of us move to follow. I catch a glimpse of the scientist looking sadly as Twilight leaves. I think he’s got a crush.
Either way, Dr. Kale brings us up the stairs, and we come to a split floor, three-quarters filled with people excitedly working on a multitude of machines and different devices. In one corner, there’s a black-and-white suit of some kind, though it looks a lot like a space suit from a video game. There’s two people in lab coats, and one in a red hoodie with a symbol I recognize on it: that’s the Team Magma symbol!
Okay... calm down... maybe he’s just a cosplayer or something... in a tech research lab. Against better judgement (according to my brain and gut) I hold my tongue and just ask Kale. “Team Magma?”
“Oh, yeah! They’re on loan from Silph. They have a lot of tech firms they fund, and some of their technicians are true masters. Devon is actually funded in large part by Team Aqua, if you didn’t know. Their environmental synergy research is vital to much of our research, and the two work together to make sure knowledge is shared. If it wasn’t for Aqua, there’d be very little research on stuff like the suit over there, which is a Null suit. They’ve also helped us develop numerous green technologies, to help keep from damaging the environment. And team Magma lends us researchers and technicians sometimes, to overcome engineering constraints. They’re brilliant!” he says, beaming.
Well, if Devon trusts them, and I mean Mr. Devon himself... alright. I walk over to the high-tech suit and voice my opinion. “Looks like an initial design for one of those weird Team Galactic onesies.”
The Magma guy turns. “Oh, hey, are you from the tour? And no, it’s a Null suit. It’s meant for nullifying dangerous environmental factors, like intense heat, cold, or radiation. It’s a prototype, sure, but the people here have done an incredible job. I’m just helping them with fixing the power issues.”
“Yeah I’m with the tour.” I reply idly, looking over the suit closer. “Do you think this could withstand heavy pressure? You know, for use far below the planet’s surface or bottom of the ocean?”
“Oh, easily. We’ve solved that problem a long ways back. The problem is the power supply... it’s no good, and dies after only an hour of use, so it’s pretty useless for actual exploration.” he explains. “We did, however, make a version specifically for diving. The Diving company here in Great Barrier Port makes use of them, and they have wireless charging from the subs.”
“So I could, theoretically, put one of those on and, with a sub nearby, go walking on the bottom of the ocean?”
“Well, yeah. As far as I understand it, that’s exactly what the Dive company does. They bring trainers down much further than they could with just pokémon. The move Dive is impressive, but... oh, speaking of pokémon moves, I was asked to hand these out if I saw any trainers along the way!” he says, reaching into a pocket, and pulls out a TM cd. “It’s the move Dig. You know how it works?”
“Yeah, first turn is a burrow that dodges most attacks but amplifies damage taken from ground-shaking moves, and an attack from below next turn. Not sure how many of my team can use it but I know Geodude can for sure. That one multi-use?”
“Yeah, it is. It can also be used to get out of caves and the like if you’re in a pinch. Just hold onto your pokémon, and they’ll get you out.” he says, smiling. He doesn’t seem too bad.
“Thanks. We’ll take one. The three of us are sharing the TMs we get, travelling as a group. Though Rares isn’t a trainer.”
“I find being a coordinator much more stimulating to my knack for appearances. And breeding is more educational than the ‘art’ of combat. By the way dear, where did you get that odd outfit? It seems rather... well it stands out quite well, to put it lightly.”
“Ha! It’s my uniform. Team Magma takes pride in its image, at least these days. I’ve read about the early days though, when our founder was more idealistic than practical.” he chuckles.
“From what I ah... read.” I begin. “Maxie was... how do I politely refer to someone who wanted to start armageddon by draining the ocean?”
“Ah, ‘eccentric’ is the usual.” the guy says, still chuckling. “But yeah, he turned that around after he saw what that could lead to. Hoenn almost got alternated roasted and drowned until he and Archie got taken down a peg each.”
“Yeah, I’ve been out of the loop for a while. Last I heard Maxie and Archie were fighting like children in a sandbox, now I hear they’re teaming up sorta?” I’m still checking out the suit. “Probably out of the question but, you mind if I try this on?”
“Er, yeah, I’d mind, and your information’s around thirty-five years out of date. You’re, what, twenty?” he says, chuckling. “Your parents probably should’ve had a talk with your school system if they left that out; the Reformation of Aqua and Magma are almost as important historically as the Rocket Corporation’s policy changes ten years later.”
"To be totally honest, my school system never covered the goings-on of the pokémon world, or pokémon at all unless I tried to make it the subject. Trust me, it sucked big time."
He looks at me with definite concern and sympathy. “Ah, one of those isolationist towns. Well, don’t worry, there aren’t any here in Otaria, there’s Pokémon coast to coast.” he says, clapping me on the shoulder companionably.
I nod in acceptance. “Thanks, been wanting to get to a place like this since I was five. Guess good things do happen if you wait, right? Anyway, you say this thing’s battery lasts for an hour, while you can’t get much exploration done in that time, have you ever used it practically before?
“Not yet. We have better-working versions in use all over the world right now, but they only have protection against one or two environmental hazards each. This suit will have all of them, and they suck a ton of power.” he explains, hands moving as he speaks.
“Right, makes sense. Anyways, I’m out of questions at the moment, but a bottom-of-the-ocean pokémon might do me good against Zoli when I make my challenge, know where I can get one of those in-use versions?”
“As I said, the Dive company. You should be able to find them on the docks, every day.” he says. “I don’t know their hours though; I’m not a trainer, and they’re meant for something like a deep-sea safari zone trip.”
“Ah, gotcha. Thanks for the tip. Come on girls, let’s see what else this tour has.” The researchers wave good-bye, and Dr. Kale escorts us up the stairs.
“The next floor is the main Office, meant for Mr. Devon whenever he stops by, or the local manager otherwise.” he stops at the top of the stairs, and knocks politely. “Sir? It’s the noon tour.” he calls through, and the door buzzes and clicks open.
On the other side is a youthful man with blue hair, smiling at us. “Come in! Come in!” he calls, waving to us. At his side is a canine shape with fur that looks like it’s wearing an older-style spacesuit, complete with a wide ruff of fur that looks like the cuff where a helmet would attach. The dog wags its tail, and barks, “Laik~!”
I take out my éTech before pocketing it and turning to ask the man. “Sorry, force of habit. What’s that pokémon there?”
“Ah, this is my Laikoyal, a pokémon technically native to this region. I’m Mr. Devon, the youngest.” he says, standing and extending his hand towards me as we walk into the room.
I shake his hand but give him a confused look. “What do you mean ‘technically native’? Have they been migrated and are now native or what?”
“Actually, they’re adapted from another pokémon species, and meant for space. They were sent into orbit, and the first one came back as a new type, and looking different.” he says, “My father helped with the breeding process, though he’d tried to breed in a Steel-Type component.”
“Changing type via breeding? Isn’t that impossible?” Rarity asks. “I’m still a novice breeder but I assure you I’ve never heard of anything of the sort before. At least not naturally or... safely.”
“Well, there’s actually several pokémon who change types over time, and very carefully selective breeding can, over time, result in new traits and abilities arising, like with Furfrou’s appearance, Burmy’s cloak changes, and Eevee’s incredible adaptivity. All but a few of Eevee’s evolutions are entirely the result of human kind’s alterations or influence on the species.”
“I see... and what type did it become while in space?” Twilight asks. “And how would replacing it with Steel type affect it?”
“Well, we’ve found that steel types are highly resistant to nuclear radiation - like that found in space. As for what type it was... well, it ended up getting the name ‘Void’, and is being found in other pokémon as well. It just fits many pokémon’s resistances and abilities better in many cases, than the types they’d been thought to be before. Like when Steel-Types were discovered, and the type was added to Magnemite’s type listing, explaining its resistance to rock and ice moves we’d previously been unable to explain.”
“So like how Deoxys was originally classified as a Psychic type to explain it’s otherworldly powers, but now you can confirm it’s this ‘Void’ type as well, or instead, right?” I ask “What other Void types are there?”
“Only a few, that we know of. Laikoyal here is a pure Void type, and one of Eevee’s evolutions is a Void Type. There’s also a pokémon from common folklore here in the Otari region that lives atop mountains and sometimes comes down. And I’ve seen a Luminight, they’re adorable. The other one we know of is Comettail, but those only show up every quarter-millenia. Every fourth appearance is usually coinciding with the Millennial Comet that passes by another region.”
I nod. “And Deoxys? Is it now a pure Void type or Psychic and Void?”
He nods. “Fully replaced its previous classification, though there’s only two we know of around the world, and they’re pretty reclusive. We’ve only seen them once since the new type was discovered.”
I think that over and another question comes to me. “What of Clefairy and their confirmed connection to the moonstones? If they can be classified as Void type, wouldn’t that mean that they really did come from the moon?”
“Well, we’re still pretty sure they came from the moon, but no. They aren’t a Void-Type, as far as our testing shows. One of the big things we’ve found is that Void Types are utterly immune to their own-type attacks.” he says.
“So what moves have you determined are Void type?” Twilight asks, pulling her éTech out to take notes like I did earlier. If the type is so rare though, I don’t think I’ll need to write this stuff down... yet.
“Well, we’ve identified a few. Starburst is a move that hits multiple times at once, using shots of low-dosage radiation. Actually, something to mention, almost all the Void-typed moves are Special moves, similar to Psychic moves. Oh, right, and there’s a move that strips off immunities when it hits, called Graviton Barrage, and Zubzilla learns a move called ‘Radiant Beam’ that is... terrifyingly effective, though it’s not a Void-Type itself. It’s a charging attack, and it can inflict some powerful side effects.”
“So downstairs, there’s a prototype suit that will protect against all environments, and I was told that there are less variable versions for sale. Is there one on the public market that could allow one to spacewalk?” I ask. I’ll probably be more interested in Void type if it can actually be a factor in my life.
“Well, probably a few, actually. But the problem would be in getting to space; it’s not a cheap thing to do, after all.” he says, chuckling. “That said, most Void types aren’t actually in space, they’re just in radiation-common places.”
“Right.” I reply. “First there’s getting high enough, then through the atmospheric layers. So where would I go to find a void type? Someplace afflicted with radioactive fallout? Because I’m not going there, no way.”
“No, but there’s a place called Rustoil Metropolis. They have a working nuclear reactor, and a few Void Types have appeared near there.”
Rustoil? What kind of name is that for a city? Maybe it’s like Black City and it’s completely industrialized to all hell. Oh well, we’ll probably end up going anyways just to see it at least. “So what was this pokémon before it changed?”
“Uh... I think they used to be an offshoot of Herdier, actually. However, Laikoyal don’t evolve, and their genealogy is in Dad’s files. I’ll be honest, it’s not something I’ve personally looked into.”
The pokémon, having heard it was being talked about, woofs out another “Laik!” and wags its tail harder. I kneel down by it and scratch its ear. I’m more of a cat person, but dogs are fine too.
The pokémon practically wags its butt off as it leans into my hand. Mr. Devon chuckles. “Seems he likes you.” he smiles again.
“Yeah well, I have a way with animals. Heh, you should see Twilight when I do this for her.” I grin as I switch to the pokémon’s other ear. “Ow!” I rub my head as I turn to see Twilight staring angrily at me, the pain in my head telling me she hit me. “Yeah yeah, kick me while I’m being nice to animals. Anyway, I don’t really have any more questions, do you guys?”
“Well, I would like to know where I might find one of my own...” Rarity says, looking like she wants to join the petting, but given the pokémon has black fur, and her current dress is white, she refrains.
“You still looking for a good pet-slash-bodyguard for your little sister huh? Well... these guys if they’re like this one, would be fine, yeah how good are these guys as babysitters?” I ask Mr. Devon.
“Very good! They’re extremely loyal, and are very sweet in disposition. They’re also surprisingly tough. Either way, they do make a good babysitter, and are plenty smart.”
“And where would I go to catch one to send home?” Rarity inquires.
“Well, they’re mostly found with breeders, but there’s a small wild pack that lives near the spaceport, up north. It’s in the desert, and a little far from everywhere else, but once you’re further north, you can easily get specific directions.” he says. “Or, I can give you a number for a breeder I know. She’s also up north, but she’s in Russet Plateau.”
“I’ll take that number if you’re offering, thank you.” Rarity smiles and Mr. Devon hands her a note with the number written on it.
“Alright.” I say, patting the Laikoyal on the head and standing up. “I think I’m ready to head out. You said there’s only one more floor, right Mr. Kale?”
“Yup! the basement. Mr. Devon, sir, the Elevator, please?” he asks, and the manager presses a few buttons, a wall panel shifting to reveal an elevator. “Alright, this way!”
Mr. Devon waves goodbye as we head into the elevator.
“So, when we’re done with this tour, I think I’m gonna head over to the gym and scope out my competition, see exactly what I’ll be up against. Need to be prepared and all.”
“And I’ll head over to the library.” Twilight says. “What do you have to do, Rarity?”
“Er, not much, actually. I suppose I may go practice more of my contest routines.”
I pause to think. “I can’t speak for Otaria, but I think I recall Sinnoh having practice rooms made out of the preliminary rooms, and they’re available to coordinators when contests aren’t being put on. You could probably go there to at least be out of the rain.” I suggest.
“Ooh, that is good to know! Thank you, Anthony. And even if not, I can still ask around.”
“Yeah. So what’s in the basement?” I ask, turning to Mr. Kale as the elevator dings. He simply gestures, and I see...
Holy cow.
There’s rows and rows of large tanks, simulating tidal pools, deeper water, plains, and even dense forest, and dozens prehistoric pokémon are happily living in them. Scientists in everything from sweaters to labcoats mill about, taking notes and socializing with the pokémon. The path for the tour is separate from the scientist’s paths. There’s even what looks like a ‘petting zoo’ area for some of the cuddlier pokémon. And along the way, there’s even some pokémon I have no idea what they are, though I can guess the giant pair of fossil forearms and claws floating around and helping scratch away the stone from around other fossils is a Carpalethe.
“Wow, when you said you revived lots of pokémon here, you weren’t joking. So what’re these guys doing, just watching and recording?”
“And helping socialize the pokémon. Some of these are actually breeding populations, and they need to produce offspring that don’t see humans and think ‘snack food’.”
“I imagine that was difficult for species like Tyrantrum. That would explain the issues with breeding them.”
“Yeah. And Tyrantrum tends to eat partners who try and mate and aren’t worthy. That’s been the bigger problem.”
“Guess even an ancient apex predator had to accept the Champ’s Charizard as ‘worthy’, huh. Still can’t believe how lucky you are Twilight... hey, do you think her Tyrunt could possibly learn Flamethrower?”
A scientist in a polo looks up and chuckles. “Sorry pal, not even a champ’s Charizard could pass that on.” I frown, that would have been- “Fire Fang on the other hand is definitely on the table.”
Oh, that rocks! I thank the guy and he laughs and goes back to his work.
“So, this-a-way, then.” Kale says, leading us down our path. Along the way, the floating pair of arms hovers close and reaches for Twilight, who freezes up in what I assume to be fear. The pokémon makes an odd, echoing moaning noise. Slowly, its hands pat down her head, back, and arm. For several seconds, it just pats her down, then makes a disappointed noise, and floats past her. Weird.
“So Twi, how does it feel to be the experiment subject?” I chide her.
“Uh... I’m not sure what that was, actually.” she says, looking more confused and a little... I’m not actually sure what the other expression she has on is.
“Anyways, I don’t know about you, but I am going to pet a Shieldon.” I say as I walk up to the ‘petting tank’.
Sure enough, there’s one in the area with just a fence, and the scientist there lets me in. The Sheildon toddles towards me, and looks up, making a lowing noise that I swear was a question.
I kneel down and get on my belly so I’m not ‘taller’ than the little guy and hold out a hand for it to inspect.
It sniffs, then butts its head against my hand, similarly to the Laikoyal did, but Sheildon is a much stronger pokémon, and I feel a jolt of pain in my wrist from the impact.
I wince and bear it as I use my other hand to pet the pokémon’s back, which it seems to appreciate. After a little bit the Shieldon seems done with playtime and walks back to its little food tray. I return to the group, calling that a success. “The guy is several billion years old, and still acts like any other pokémon. Guess some things don’t really change, huh?”
“Heh, it helps that one was young to begin with. And only a couple dozen-million years. But yeah, we’ve also got an Amaura in here, if you’re interested. She’s a sweetie, really.”
“Sure, come on Twilight, pet an ancient pokémon that will likely let go.” I chuckle, remembering her ‘curiosity killed the cat’ moment with the Omanyte earlier.
She blushes a bit, but comes into the enclosure, and approaches the Amaura. The four-foot pokémon leans forward to sniff the pony-girl’s hand, then continues to look her over with curiosity.
“I’m not sure what colors mean what, but I think I recall something about the little sails on it’s head changing color with it’s mood.” I inform Twilight. “It’ll probably change once it makes it’s decision.”
The Amaura’s fins ripple through a rainbow of color, and it nuzzles her hand once, then plods slowly past her, apparently satisfied with simply saying hello.
“Guess she’s just not feeling friendly.” I say, shrugging. “Oh well.”
The scientist giggles. “Yeah, she tends to be perfectly content with acknowledging people’s existence and calling it a day.” he says, as the Amaura settles into the corner, and snuggles down to sleep.
“Thrilling life.” I remark sarcastically. The scientists chuckles. “So all my prehistoric and fossil-related questions have already been answered so unless anyone’s thought of something new to ask, I’d say I’m done here. Not to rush through this, but I am kind of looking forward to checking out the gym as more than just a big swimming pool.”
“Alright. Let’s get you through th- uh, ma’am, I don’t think you can just adopt them.” he paused when he saw that Rarity was cuddling... a Kabuto? The pokémon seems utterly content be held close, and she’s got a Lileep and another Amaura trying to stick close to her.
I turn to Twilight. “Think we should leave her here for a while so she has something to do?”
Rarity coos to the pokémon, and Twilight nods. “As long as the scientists don’t mind...” she says, trailing off as she sees said scientists crowding around to talk to her about her techniques, even as Rarity continues to simply be gleefully snuggled by the pokémon.
Kinda reminds me of Fluttershy, actually. If we brought her with us, she’d definitely be a breeder... And probably try to bring them back home. I imagine Fluttershy snuggling an Eevee and I swear it almost hurts with how cute the mental image is. Maybe best if she isn’t here.