Hard Enough - Chapter 365 - Charific Valley encounters!

Charific Valley was a naturally occurring den of Charizard that was located within a small valley between Violet City and Azalea Town.

The land itself was rocky and rather barren in points leading down into the valley, while the rolling hills contained verdant forests and grasslands that housed multiple smaller species of pokemon like Pidgey, Spearow, Caterpie, Weedle, Ledyba, and Spinarak. There were also a myriad of grass types that scuttled around.

Within the waters at the base of the valley there were also numerous water type pokemon, but never anything that could actually challenge the local charizard for their position as apex predators of the region.

This diverse ecosystem allowed for ideal conditions for Charizard to hunt and grow.

The most eye-catching landmark of the valley wasn’t the valley itself however, nor was it the multiple caves built into the sides of the valley, but rather the huge amphitheater that an ancient tribe that idolised Charizard had built. Small statues of Charizard led into an archway leading up to a staired podium with four tiers that led into a set of huge iron doors.

Above the doors a huge Charizard head had been carved into the rock letting everyone know who this valley belonged to.

Interestingly, Charific Valley was one of the naturally occurring landmarks within Indigo where people couldn’t merely Teleport in and out at the drop of a hat.

Which did make it tougher for our expedition.

Thankfully, we weren’t going to be bringing any heavy equipment as excavations of any serious nature wasn’t allowed. Even using picks on the walls of various caverns were going to result in issues if we tried.

So it was very much ‘look’ around and nothing more. I just had to hope that any Charizardite that might be present was close to the surface if not outright exposed.

We landed a few kilometres out from the valley with Flint stepping off the rental Pidgeot with a long groan. 

“Urgh! Old bones never like staying in flight for too long!” he murmured.

I stared at him. “We were barely in the air for like ten minutes.”

Flint coughed. “Yeah, well I’m not used to flying! I’m used to rough riding an onix or something else!” he flapped a hand in front of himself. “It’s completely different!” he claimed before puffing out some fog with his breath. “Also it’s still winter so it was blasted cold up there!”

I shook my head, wondering if he’d like a flight jacket for a gift for the holiday season. 

“Everyone else alright?” I called, checking in if the rest of the expedition were well enough to continue. 

“Noct!” hooted Zephyr my Noctowl as I handed him a small bag of poffins. “Thanks buddy, think I’ll let you stay out for a bit, make sure to stay away from the valley to the north, alright?”

“Noc!” agreed Zephyr happily.

Stephen, now recognised as one of the resident Pewter Professors of pokemon grinned as he stretched and eyed the hiking trail leading towards Charific Valley. Daisy Oak who had asked to intern with us for a few days grinned and looked eager for what was to come.

“Well lads and ladies? What are we waiting for?” he called, leading the group up the hill. A chuckle escaped me at his enthusiasm.

As we trekked up the rocky path, Flint moved to my side and took a deep breath of air. “Ah! This is the stuff! Nothing quite beats the air when you’re out in the wilds! City air is just so different!”

“Must be all the pollution,” I replied, taking a bracing breath myself and enjoying the slight chill that stung my nose and lungs as the cold air came and went. A long exhale of fog like smoke at my exhale had me grinning like a kid. 

“Hmmm, I’d say it was the lack of trees!” called one of the geologists who had come along.

“Lack of humans,” replied another, the fog coming from him escaping in short puffs like a train making its way uphill.

"Higher oxygen along with the lack of pollution," Daisy Oak caleld only for others to boo her.

"Bah! Don't just combine others answers!" called an older geologists only for Daisy to poke her tongue out causing the good mood to stay strong.

The group returned to discussing the reasons back and forth as we continued on our upward trek towards Charific valley. Once we got close, we started to see signs of the Charizard. Namely that sections of the path were burnt black, or how some trees were scratched up. The trees also appeared to be different.

“Huh, they have more naturally resilient plants up here,” muttered Stephen. “Must help act as a fire break.”

“They also have some parts of the forest carved up with troughs further out, making the forest sectioned off into small parcels of land, not that it would stop things if an inferno proper got underway,” I said, thinking about forest fires and how they could ‘leap’ across large highways to ignite trees.

Stephen shook his head. “I’ve actually heard about that and it’s one of the reasons the traditional tribesman allowed water types around. They created the pools of water that when it rained linked up. But if there is a fire the water and ground type pokemon that live around act as natural firefighters. It’s rather ingenious how they noticed those behaviours and built it into their way of life!” 

Stephen made a snatching gesture. “The Charizard can also swoop down to eat the Goldeen and Seaking that live there as additional snacks.”

“What about Magikarp? They’re prolific at getting into any puddle of water I thought.”

Stephen spun around. “Ah! That’s where it gets interesting! Charizard seem to make sure to be very quick at hunting water types. They know they have a weakness, so ambush and instant kills are the method of choice. Prolonged fights after all don’t favour Charizard in aquatic settings, but also the risk of a Magikarp evolving makes it doubly effective!”

“Huh,” I replied. “Neat.” 

Flint rubbed his chin. “Perhaps we should have brought Salvadore?” 

“Nah, he has school. Plus I already promised him he could be my page during Fight Knight,” I replied as I ticked things off my fingers. “Don’t want to spoil him too much. Also there is a not insignificant risk with these Charizard being mostly wild,” I reminded everyone.

That got a round of nods with several of the group checking themselves over for anything flammable. A roar overhead caused the group to pause in our trek and start searching the sky. 

I paused and centred myself, calling up the feeling of my aura to expand my senses. My projection and shadowy mountain had been a welcome addition to my aura skills and had allowed me to get a good look at the land around me along with the sky.

The roar shifted into a small shriek as my ‘attention’ fell upon a young looking Charizard. It searched around only to look down and lock eyes with me.

I met its gaze, more than ready to clip its wings.

It must have understood my intent as it turned and flew away.

Good, I thought to myself.

“Huh, maybe they’re better behaved than we were told?” muttered one of the geologists.

Stephen merely hummed as he glanced back at me thoughtfully. Flint, who had stiffened at my aura projection shot me a wide eyed look and when our group started walking it took him a moment to follow. 

He leaned in close. “You’ve ah… gotten stronger with that,” he whispered. 

I merely nodded, a pleased smirk. “It’s new, and very very useful for a whole range of things, I’ve found.” The path ahead continued to rise and I toyed with ‘projecting’ my intent ahead of us before rethinking it. “Might not use it too much though as while it’s useful I’m not sure I want to come across as too threatening.”

“Hmmm good idea,” Flint muttered. 

Another roar from directly ahead of us had us looking up to spot a Charizard with a rider on its back flying towards us.

The Charizard landed gracefully and snorted as its rider dismounted. Their outfit announced them to be a Ranger with several years of experience with forests, and what looked like a Charizard-specific badge for three years.

 “Hey there! Not sure if you noticed but a young Charizard started stalking you there for a bit! Course he musta seen me coming and got scared off!” 

Flint shot me a knowing smirk, but I just winked at him. He coughed and stepped through the group to take the lead. “Hello there! We’re the Mega Rock group! We spoke with Liza about our visit?” he asked.

The ranger nodded. “Yup! You’re right on time! We’ll head up to the lodge first and go through some ground rules if you’ll pardon the pun!” 

We followed the ranger up to the lodge which had a small cottage overlooking the valley itself with a young looking Charizard with a small pink ribbon on her head, while further away from the rim there was a set of buildings that were all made of hardened clay exterior. 

When we were led into the building I noted that it was only a shell with us travelling another dozen metres before we entered the building proper. 

Within, Liza herself was happily sipping a mug of coffee. “Ah! The Mega Rock company! Nice of you to come!” she declared. She then walked up to us and began shaking hands. 

When she reached me, she paused only to raise my hand to her nose and sniff. “Huh, I’m not sure if the Charizard are going to like you. You smell like a different apex predator.” she took another long sniff only to glance up at my face. “Ah! That would be why! You have two Tyranitars and that big honking Rhyperior! You’re Brock of Pewter city!”

I chuckled. “I also have a Steelix, and an Aggron,” I offered. 

Liza hummed. “Eh, the Charizard wouldn’t think they were threats with their type advantage.”

That got an amused hum from me and I was about to point out that such an oversight would quickly become their undoing but Flint stepped in. “Will Brock’s scent be an issue?” 

“Hmmmm,” Liza crossed her arms, shut her eyes and tilted her head only for her hand to whip out and grab mine again to take a long smell. “The weaker ones might try to do something silly cause of their pride. Charizard can be silly like that despite not being true dragon types.”

“And the stronger ones?” I asked.

Liza chuckled. “Truly strong pokemon don’t need to make a big song and dance of their strength.”

“And what if we’re looking to go into the deeper caves?” I asked, continuing to probe. When she blinked innocently at me I continued by asking, “What if we encounter the Alpha?” I asked.

Liza blinked. Then she stared at me. “Huh, you have done your research haven’t you? You know all about how the Charizard likes to set up a hierarchy of who’s the strongest?” she asked.

When I merely crossed my arms and nodded, she hummed. “Alright, if you want to go into the deeper caves where the alpha resides… I had best accompany you with my Charla!” she declared with a nod. 

“Sounds responsible,” I offered.

Liza bounced to the front and gestured to the various diagrams on display. Some were simple instructions of what to do when Charizard approached and how to read their intentions. “We’re going to spend the next two hours going over Charizard behaviours to make things go as smoothly as possible! While each of you will be having a ranger escort it's best that you have a general idea of what to do and why it is important before you come face to face with a nesting mother or a—” she paused to make quotation marks with her fingers, “—lonely Charmander, you will know what to do!” 

What followed was a cartoonish ranger trotting out onto the screen with a jolly expression. 

“So! You’re about to enter Charific valley! One of the wonders of Johto! You’re going to have to know a few things before going too far though, cause we don’t want to have to use our fireplace dustpan and broom to clean up your ashes!” declared the cartoon with an almost giddy tone.

Liza coughed. “For legal reasons... I do have to point out that we’re not joking despite the cutesy method of delivery.” she pointed to a counter on the wall that read ‘one hundred and seven days since last injury!’ on it. 

The group all shared looks at that as Liza resumed the video which went through how certain Charizard would react to us entering their valley and also how much of a bad idea it was to enter their caverns.

That got the entire group to share a look. We were here specifically for the caverns as that was where we had the best chance of there being any Mega Stone.

“This is why we’re having the Rangers accompany you,” added Liza.

From there, general behaviours were covered such as what was friendly or what was considered dangerous. A lot of it depended on the temperature of the flames on their tails and if they were baring their teeth in certain manners.

When we were done Liza clapped her hands together. “Alright! We’re going to buddy you all up! Brock! Seeing as you’re going to go into the depths which isn’t on any of the public maps, we’ll head off straight away as it’s a bit of a hike!” 

“Alright,” I replied.

Flint moved up next to me. “Brock you’re going to be looking for crystal deposits with an inner colouration that doesn’t match. The other thing you need to keep an eye out for, is for an odd resonance when you focus on it.” He made a point of tapping me on the chest. “I think you’ll have the best feel for that.”

“Shame Flannery was called back to Hoenn after Shamouti,” I replied. 

At that Flint merely nodded and waved me farewell as I set off from the offices with Liza. Charla perked up as soon as she spotted her trainer with Liza giving Charla a fond hug when the pretty female Charizard nuzzled at her.

“Hey there girl! We’re heading to Old flamers’ caves, think you can keep us safe?” she asked. 

“Chaaaaar!” rumbled Charla with a firm nod. She turned her head towards me and took a long sniff only to lean back and bark a surprised sound.

“He’s alright girl, don’t worry I’ve heard good things about his pokemon. They’re supposed to be very polite!”

That got a chuckle and a quick nod when Charla inspected me. “They’re very nice. Bertha can be a bit sparkly but she’s very friendly.” I left off that Charla, who even had a small accessory on show, would share enough personality to have Bertha talking fashion with the other pokemon even if she wanted to or not.

Liza led us towards a small, hidden walkway that tucked around the valley towards a cave that was apparently tucked behind the skull at the top of the small mountain. 

As we walked, a thought occurred to me. “I should probably mention, while we’re away from the others, that I also have another pokemon that I recently acquired which might… well make things interesting.”

Liza stopped dead. “What sort of pokemon?” she asked seriously.

“Regirock,” I replied seriously.

Liza whistled lowly. “That… can’t say I have a clue how Old Flamer will react to that,” she mused. “A Legendary pokemon is worth respect but this is an alpha pokemon in its home.” She tapped her chin in thought. “I think it will be fine. What’s Regirock’s temperament like? It’s not going to demand a fight is it?”

I snorted. “Regirock is extremely passive unless you enter an area that is restricted like the reserve, or hurt one of its friends.” I nodded my head in a southerly direction. “We were in the thick of that Shamouti incident, and Regirock was extremely motivated.”

Liza nodded. “Makes sense, a Legendary pokemon would want to make sure the world didn’t go shit,” she chuckled. 

As we continued our walk we passed several Charizard. They were either flying, walking, lounging or in one case, fighting with each other which caused a momentary delay until the victor swiped the other’s feet out and stomped its foe into the ground.

With the other Charizard going limp the victor roared a torrent of flame into the air and looked around only to deflate.

“Was it looking for other challengers?” I asked.

Liza giggled. “No, that was a mating display. Those two are particularly interested in an older female but she doesn’t have the time of day for them!” 

That got a grimace of sympathy from me and I almost raised a fist for those two but thought better of it. Again, while they weren’t dragons they wouldn’t like to be pitied.

Liza continued to chat away as we marched, more from habit I suspected than actually thinking I needed to be lectured. “At Charific valley we’re proud to host some of the strongest Charizard around!” 

Again I stayed quiet, knowing that if Ash’s Charizard came here, it would soon rise up the rankings to be one of the tougher pokemon. What that said about the current population and Ash’s Charizard I wasn’t sure, but I very much doubted Ash’s pokemon was all that strong.

Liza caught something from me as she eyed me. “You don’t agree?”

I offered a shrug. “I just don’t think that pokemon that are let loose in a controlled environment are going to gain the same level of strength as those that train with people and other pokemon.” 

With a wave of my hand I indicated how the various Charizard were fighting or flying around. “It might Pidgeot hole them. They’re great at fighting themselves and the pokemon around, but what of other pokemon? Do they face Tyranitar? Blastoise? Raichu?” I asked, listing off three pokemon that could easily ‘threaten’ a Charizard competitively. 

“Also, that’s not even discussing what would happen with people being able to change moves beyond what a Charizard naturally learns.” 

“Hmmm I see your point, but I was referring more to their physicality,” she murmured quickly. 

“They are impressive specimens,” I replied, inspecting the much taller than usual Charizard. “How big is the alpha?” I asked.

“Oh, they’re nine feet. It makes them very popular!” proclaimed Liza with a smirk.

Something about the way she said that had me squinting at her suspiciously. “... the Alpha’s a girl, aren’t they?” I asked.

Liza clicked her tongue. “Damn it! I thought you’d be like the others and I’d get to do the reveal!” she declared.

“Huh,” I replied, taking this new information in. “So we’re going to be entering her nest, literally then?” I asked.

Liza nodded. “Yah!” her head bounced up and down with a smirk, “aren’t you glad you have Charla and I with you to keep you safe?”

My head bobbed from side to side. “The strong scent Titan gives off…” I waved a hand. “Is that going to… how do I say this?” I mused aloud.

“Make her want to mate? Nah, not likely, I know they’re the same egg group but she goes up to Blackthorn for her breeding.” Liza pointed in Blackthorn City’s direction. “We usually have to escort her with a ranger or two or tell Lance to send his Charizard to meet her halfway. We’ve got it all worked out.”

“Well that’s good,” I replied, glad that I wasn’t going to have to endure being propositioned about my— right as I thought that a Charizard flying overhead paused and flew closer only to start sniffing the air.

Liza whirled around. “No! No girl back!” she called, sending the interested Charizard away with a grumble. Liza shot me a grin. “But that doesn’t mean other Charizard won’t be interested!” she announced drawing a huff from me. 

“Of course it doesn’t,” I muttered.

We got three more interested Charizard, to the point that I wondered what would happen if I let Tide out of his pokeball. 

Probably several ‘dates’ and fights back to back. 

I was half considering it as we reached the summit and Liza paused ahead of me. “Oh! We’re in luck, Old Flamer is out sunbaking!” she called and I stepped up next to Liza to find myself in front of a rather large Charizard.

She made for an imposing sight even at rest which had me humming in appreciation.

Old Flamer opened a single eye to observe us and when she spotted me her nostrils flared only to lift her head and rumble.

Liza kept her hands low. “Hey there girl! It’s alright! He’s just here to look around. No hurting you or your eggs. This is like when Elm came around!” she crooned. 

When Old Flamer started to rise Liza clicked her tongue and drew out two gloves. “Charla,” she ordered and Charla’s tail flicked around to ignite the gloves.

Much like I’d heard Flannery do, Liza began to slowly dance in a rhythmic circle with her flames rising and falling around her. Charla matched her trainer making the duo an attractive sight.

Old Flamer continued to stand but didn’t make any other action beyond watching the pair. When Liza and Charla were done they knelt with Liza clenching her fists to douse her flame.

Old Flamer rolled her shoulders before scratching her chin. “Zaaaaaar!” she rumbled waving a claw in my direction. She then gestured towards the open expanse off to the side.

Liza rose. “She wants to see your pokemon team. She can smell their power and wishes to converse with them.”

“Alright then,” I replied, “All at once or—”

Another grumble caused the earth to shift beneath me and out of instinct more than anything else I tilted my head slightly and drew upon my aura. 

The dark mountain formed as I locked gazes with Old Flamer. The huge Charizard perked up at this with interest. 

She didn’t show any aggressive signs but she did sweep her tail around behind her languidly, like a cat wondering what it would do next.

Before anything could tip in either direction the pokeballs at my belt opened without my touch, Titan, Bertha, Tide, Hypnotoad, Regirock, Sanchez, Empress, Knight, and Jorm emerged around me. 

I almost looked back at them, wondering what the hell they thought they were doing only for Old Flamer to throw back her head and roar in a manner that could only be a laugh.

Empress stepped forward and grunted. “Tar!” she barked once and Old Flamer’s head snapped down.

“Char?” questioned the larger pokemon only to perk up. “Char!” she called happily.

Empress sniffed in a derisive manner.

Then the two started… chatting like old friends?

What?

I shot Titan a look only to find him looking rather stunned. I coughed and shot a ‘translation please?’ through the bond.

What I got back surprised me. 

Apparently Empress and Old Flamer knew each other and when she’d demanded I release my strongest pokemon she’d been expecting Empress so she could taunt her. It seemed that the pair were rivals in mating partners with Old Flamer sometimes seeking out Tyranitar instead of Lance’s Charizard for a while there.

Liza’s head swivelled back and forth. “This? What? But we had rangers escorting you!” she called, revealing that she understood some of what was being said.

Empress ignored Liza while Old Flamer waved a hand dismissively with a small grunt. 

“Before we took over?” squawked Liza. “What? But? We’ve been doing this job for three generations now…” she seemed to be having a moment. I shared a look with Titan. 

Should we go and come back later? 

Titan shrugged, watching his mother interact with another apparently old matriarch. 

“That means you’re much older than we assumed!” she whispered quietly.

“Certainly something to add to the pokedex entry. They’ve always said they have comparable lives to that of humans,” I mused aloud. 

Liza nodded. 

I coughed. “Sooo does this mean I can…” I gestured towards the cave. 

“Oh, hang on. Flamer! Brock wants to look around!” she called. 

Once again Old Flamer inspected me, but instead of locking eyes she turned to Empress and rumbled something. Empress nodded and rumbled back the equivalent of ‘he’s safe around eggs,’ to her and Old Flamer flicked her claw dismissively. 

As I turned towards the cave, Empress grunted something and turned to me.

I shot her an unimpressed look before shaking my head. “You’re as bad as your daughters,” I muttered as I drew out my mega poffins and began laying them out for her and her friend to have the equivalent of a tea party.

Bertha happily trotted forward to join the other apex pokemon with Titan being dragged along. 

Charla sat at Old Flamer’s side with Liza next to her, looking a bit stunned by all the revelations.

This time before I departed I gave the rest of my team a once over. “Any of you need anything else?” I asked.

Most of them all shook their heads, Regirock stayed perfectly still, Sanchez shot finger guns at me and Tide started craning his neck around with interest at all the flying Charizard. I decided to ignore that and instead marched into the cave, leaving my pokemon to mind themselves.

The cave itself seemed fairly standard for a pokemon’s den. There were a few more holes in the ceiling that I hadn’t seen which allowed the sun to filter in, creating patches of stone that were lit up and warm.

The light allowed the wall which were a pale white as opposed to the surrounding clay red to stand out. Interestingly this was only from the ground up to roughly my shoulder height instead of going the whole way up. 

This signified that the crystal formations hadn’t been embedded into the walls naturally. They were too smooth and uniform. It was possible that the Charizard had hollowed out the crystal formation over the course of time but I doubted that due to the next observation. 

Throughout the circumference of the roughly round cave were patches of colourful crystals of red, gold, yellow and even blue streaking through making it look like some parts of the crystals were on fire. 

Some of this was naturally occurring and I’d even seen it in the cave my Crystal Onix grew up in, but never in a uniform line at roughly chest height. 

There were also dozens of what appeared to be firestones embedded in the walls at set junctions to further up the heat of the cave.

It made for the perfect habitat for a fire type pokemon to raise its young. 

Tucked into one of the corners in a slight recess was a raised platform that had a dip in the middle. Within was a nest with two eggs. I hummed and gave the cave a slow look around. If it had any wall art this cave could almost be extremely similar to the cave that Empress used to nest in at the top of Mt Silver.

Except there weren’t any artwork on the wall, painted or carved or otherwise. There was a distinct lack of any human touch which was interesting as I doubted the precise distances of the fire stones in the wall was a natural phenomena. 

Nature wasn’t that neat and orderly after all.

I walked slowly around the cave, hand hovering to the side as I inspected each fire stone. Were the other nests set up like this? It was a wonder we didn’t have more Charmander available for young trainers if they were this well taken care of.

I had a sneaking suspicion that when the Rangers weren’t paying attention there might be a few Charizard ‘culling’ the competition so to speak. 

If so their involvement became critical for making sure Charmander continued to be a possible pokemon for young trainers. 

When I got close to the nest I had to shake my head as my hand hovered over one of the closest stones on the wall to the nest. 

Only it wasn’t like the others. There was a feeling of heat radiating from the stone, certainly, but it wasn’t like a fire stone. I knelt at eye level and stared at the circular imprint. Instead of having a flame like quality to it there was instead a small helix within.

I started taking photos knowing that this would be quite the find.

I flexed a bit of my rock aura into my fingers and dug through the wall. 

My fingers broke through what must have been the crystal formation that Flint had mentioned, only to close my hand around a perfectly spherical gem and behind that another, much smaller gem, Both gems came free without much resistance.

It was almost like they were waiting to be pulled out.

A red and yellow stone stared back at me and I whistled as I took some photos “Charizardite and a keystone,” I commented aloud, making sure to not mention the Y specific variant aloud. I took the photos of both items, remarking on the shape and feel of the stone before making a show of glancing around. 

“Interestingly it wasn’t the closest stone to the Alpha’s nest but one out from the central point.”

Instead of leaving the wall socket empty I fished around in my pouch and drew out a firestone we’d collected from earlier digs which I fitted into the wall. It was rather amusing to think that it was technically regenerative processing with there being a chance of coming back later to secure another stone in future.

With my earlier hypothesis still in effect I moved around the wall, moving just past the nest itself carefully only to find nothing but a normal fire stone. 

“Alright, skip one,” I murmured as I moved towards a patch of wall that had a slightly different hue to it. It looked flamelike with the light reflecting off with a reddish yellow but there was something obviously different to it. 

I approached and once more knelt to inspect it, my heart starting to beat faster. “Ah, interesting, this crystal formation has a keystone presenting at the front!” I murmured. 

And as the saying went, where there’s smoke there’s a Charmeleon most of the time. I once more pushed my fingers through the wall and drew out two small gems of varying size. The first and outer layer which helped disguise the stone was the Keystone but behind that was a much darker stone with a blue-black-grey colouration to it.

“Another type of mega stone?” I whispered on the video feed I was putting together. “But still found within a Charizard den.” I made a show of looking around. “So that means another pokemon must nest here…” I murmured aloud, which isn’t likely as this pokemon has been here for generations.” 

As if I was slowly coming to a realisation I paused. “Or… Charizard are capable of two mega evolutions,” I mused slowly. 

I replaced the stones with fire stones like I had before and departed after taking another slow circuit of the cave, checking the walls and ceilings for any other potential mega stones.

I honestly hadn’t been expecting both variants to be present like this but at the same time this was the best site for such. I had to wonder what the rest of the expedition would find. Would they have just as much success? Or was this an outlier among outliers?

I departed the cavern with such thoughts and the four stones in hand. When I reached the surface I found my pokemon happily sitting with Old Flamer who looked happy at having another old friend call in on her. Liza still had a stunned look on her face, like a Magikarp had just leapt out of a lake and slapped her in the face before it started talking like a human.

Which… was possible, all things considered.

My gaze shifted towards Regirock who was standing as still as a statue. Even without movement it drew the eye due to the innate power within its form.

Regirock… a Legendary pokemon…

Something about that… my mind turned back to an earlier comment I’d said to Liza. He’d been one of the Legendary pokemon at the Shamouti incident…

One of many…

I glanced down at the mega stone in my hands. If… if there was any chance of stones being formed not thanks to Yvetal or Xerneas… then surely an incident involving ten of them had to have good odds.

I drew out my transceiver to make a call. 

Suddenly Ash’s ‘Luck’ with getting a mega stone didn’t seem to be such long odds. 

Which meant we needed a signed agreement with the Orange Islands immediately.

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A.N. Thanks go to my patreons for your continued support.

It also goes to Twmmy for proofreading this chapter.