The feeling of raw power was palpable.

Between Mega Altaria and Mega Aerodactyl, the audience was split between staring in stunned silence and cheering their minds out. The two flying Pokémon were staying in place in the air, with Altaria only needing to lightly flap to stay up, and Aerodactyl sending gales of wind downwards with every forceful push to maintain its height.

Time seemed to slow as both incredibly powerful Pokémon stared off at each other, until both Roark and I screamed out commands at once.

"Hyper Voice!"

"Crunch!"

A burst of wind signaled the start of Aerodactyl’s movement as the ancient Pokémon rushed forward with incredible speed. Altaria screeched out waves of Fairy Type energy with his Pixilate-converted Hyper Voice, but Aerodactyl sped through them as if they were nothing.

The sound waves impacted the ground behind it, bringing up a low-lying cloud of dust over the field beneath them, and Aerodactyl closed in with its jaws wide.

"Cotton Guard!" I yelled.

Altaria spun in place to spread the fluffy cloud on his back over his entire body. Aerodactyl, biting a moment too soon, Crunched down on the mound of feathers, completely missing Altaria’s body. However, it still managed to get something in its mouth, and it yanked Altaria out of the air to be dragged along with it, all while its Tough Claws tore into Altaria’s body from below.

That didn’t last too long, as Aerodactyl pulled in its wings, sending the pair of them falling to the ground.

Roark watched intently. This was part of his strategy.

Since Aerodactyl was biting onto Altaria, there was little he could actually do to escape. With the fossil biting onto his side, he was at least able to twist his head around to send another Hyper Voice right into Aerodactyl. It winced from the pain, but otherwise ignored the point-blank attack and continued forward to smash the pair into the ground.

The previous dust cloud obscured their impact, and the force of it caused a much larger one to be launched into the air above them. A spotlight from a drone flying above turned on an illuminated them within it. It was hard to make out their forms, but their silhouettes were visible. Aerodactyl brought up its head from Altaria’s side as a glint appeared off of it through the fog. It seemed that it had made the most of its Rock Head ability to amplify the damage of a properly timed Iron Head at the point of impact. Despite crashing hard into the ground, Aerodactyl had taken little damage itself in that exchange.

The lingering dust was suddenly pushed out from the two Pokémon as an incredibly powerful Ice Beam shot up and out from the pair. While it didn’t hold up to one of Ninetales’s, it was much stronger than what Altaria could normally do with the move as dust was literally frozen over and fell to the ground.

There was a grunt of pain and Aerodactyl jumped back. A flap of its wings cleared the obscuring dust around it, revealing both its form and the streak of frost on one side of its face. That Ice Beam hadn’t hit directly, but the super effective move still at least left its mark.

Altaria, now free of the vicious dinosaur, pushed to his feet and bundled his wings in close. Rather than taking a defensive position, he started to use Roost, allowing him to heal more of his health.

I was confused why Aerodactyl wasn’t moving in, but while Altaria was resting, the dust suddenly cleared out around him thanks to his Cloud Nine ability, revealing frosty mist emanating from his beak, signaling that he was prepared to launch another Ice Beam at a moment’s notice.

It was too much of a risk for Aerodactyl to move in.

“Rock Slide combo!” Roark ordered instead.

Even though Altaria was threatening a super effective move, he was basically a sitting duck, which gave Aerodactyl plenty of room to attack from range. Lifting itself up into the air, it grabbed one of the few remaining boulders, then crushed it in its claws and tossed it forward. Altaria brought up his wings to shield himself from the rain of stone, only for Aerodactyl’s eyes to glow as it used Ancient Power, both conjuring and picking up large rocks for it to easily control and send Altaria’s way.

Not willing to let himself take damage while healing any longer, Altaria shot into the air with several large stones following. He sped forward as they chased after him, only for him to bank a sharp turn at the edge of the arena and have them crash into the Psychic Type barrier.

The crowd screamed with excitement.

With its ranged attacks destroyed and Altaria no longer an easy target, Roark yelled a command, and Aerodactyl took off to follow. Its muscled body meant that each flap of its wings were bringing it closer and closer to him, so Altaria had to do something unless we wanted a repeat of what happened with Crunch.

“Dazzle him!”

Right when Aerodactyl was about to approach, Altaria suddenly stretched his wings out and burst with Fairy Type energy. The bright light seared into Aerodactyl and briefly blinded it, allowing Altaria to turn and escape. Roark frowned and pointed at his opponent, then yelled out yet another new strategy for Aerodactyl to follow.

“Maneuver with Agility!”

It took a moment for Aerodactyl to recover, but it also took a moment for Altaria to turn around in the air to aim at the Rock Type. However, the Ice Beam I yelled for went wide as Aerodactyl practically disappeared in a blink, turning into a quick blur that reappeared behind Altaria.

It didn’t directly attack, but positioned itself slightly above and screamed out a Roar, the pressure from the sound knocking Altaria back mid-air and sending him to the ground.

I thought he was about to crash here, but of course, Altaria just pulled up at the last moment and sailed into the air as if he was just fine. Aerodactyl stayed back, most likely hesitant to follow with the knowledge of Dazzling Gleam.

It took me almost all my willpower to not immediately smack my face with my palm.

With that exchange, the start of the battle repeated itself with the pair of Pokémon standing off. Their attacks were significantly more powerful in their Mega Evolved form, but their bodies could still withstand even more damage. However, as it stood, Altaria and I were favored to win simply because he could use Roost to heal while Aerodactyl had no such option. Unless Roark did something major, there was little chance of a turnaround.

I knew this, and Roark knew this, too. So, it wasn’t a surprise when he ordered his Pokémon to resort to a much stronger move.

“Hyper Beam,” he said surprisingly calmly.

Energy built up in Aerodactyl’s mouth, causing the back of its throat to begin to glow. Altaria puffed up a bit to make sure his Cotton Guard was properly set, then tried his best to maneuver around mid air to dodge.

His efforts were for naught, as Aerodactyl easily shifted in place to aim and struck him on the side. The raw energy burned into his feather, taking off a solid chunk of his Cotton Guard, but he stayed strong.

In all honesty, this one Hyper Beam didn’t match any one of the three that had hit him in the Diamond Domain. That lack of power combined with his Mega Form’s improved defense meant he was still raring to go.

I decided to mimic Roark, and told Altaria to use one of his most powerful moves, too. It wasn’t necessarily as strong as Hyper Voice, but the sheer length of time it lasted meant it was strong enough to wear down almost any foe.

“Full strength, Uproar!” I screamed.

Altaria flew around Aerodactyl as it took a moment to recharge after Hyper Beam. It didn’t take much time at all for it to recover the energy it expended thanks to the benefits of being a Mega Evolved Pokémon, but Altaria was still in a better shape than it.

Motes of pink light started to coalesce and move towards Altaria as he sucked in a deep breath and built Fairy Type energy up in his chest. His Mega Form’s ability, Pixilate, meant not only would Uproar become a Fairy Type move and become more powerful due to his shared Type with it, but the ability also meant that it would inherently become more powerful.

I doubted that Aerodactyl would be able to stay conscious through its full effect.

“Unleash it!”

With that command, there was suddenly deafening silence.

The normally near-invisible Psychic Type barriers surrounding the field flared up and became partially translucent as Lucian’s Psychic Types ensured all noise would be completely contained within the field. The audience was a mixture of fervent cheers and stunned silence as the sheer power of Altaria’s converted Uproar made its presence known in this battle.

As he yelled, a second Hyper Beam struck Altaria in the chest and caused the Uproar to temporarily stop. The surrounding light died down as Aerodactyl rushed in, only for Altaria to use that delay to breath in and scream out for its second scream as part of this sound-based tantrum.

The sudden sound waves sent its way threw Aerodactyl off and it sailed to the side. The sheer noise being muted meant Roark could issue no commands; he was forced to let Aerodactyl finish this battle on its own.

Altaria, putting his entire focus into screaming his lungs out, landed on the floor to finish off his second scream. Aerodactyl stayed above and built up speed with Agility as spiraling light began to spin like a drill at the front of its body.

A physical version of Hyper Beam, Giga Impact, built up around Aerodactyl as it skyrocketed right at Altaria’s seated position. Too motivated by his Uproar to care, he breathed in deeply one more time to unleash his final scream involved with the Uproar.

Aerodactyl closed in.

A mushroom cloud of dust not unlike the one made from the first impact blew into the air and obscured the entire field. I let loose a morbid chuckle as I remembered that I’ve seen something like this a few times before.

However, this time, neither Pokémon had fainted.

Aerodactyl pushed to its feet next to Altaria as Altaria scooted back on his butt, one wing pressed tightly to his body in pain. Both Pokémon were seriously injured, and it seemed like this final moment could go any way.

There was a bit of an issue with that thought, however.

Roark was swaying on his feet, clearly exhausted from the energy he spent to maintain Aerodactyl’s Mega Form, and Aerodactyl was swaying as well, needing to recharge from its Giga Impact. Altaria was hurt, perhaps even more so than Aerodactyl, but he was capable of moving, and therefore attacking.

Aerodactyl tried to lunge to the side to dodge, but a well timed Hyper Voice pierced through the ancient Pokémon as all it ended up doing was falling to the ground unconscious.

The audience cheered. The battle had been tense. Now, it was finished.

The barriers around the field fell down as Roark and I approached our Pokémon. Due to its unconscious condition, Aerodactyl had reverted back to its base form, but we needed to move onto the field while our Pokémon were still Mega Evolved. It was a necessity for the battle, and one of the reasons we saved it for the end. We had to show that Mega Pokémon were safe to approach.

Altaria was huffing and puffing, exhausted from the pain and my eyes felt heavy just from how much energy I had unconsciously put in for his Mega Form. He sat up as I approached, and I saw him position himself into a Roost to help him deal with some of the damage he sustained in the battle.

Roark reached his Aerodactyl first and rubbed its back before returning it to its Pokéball. Altaria, who was much larger than usual, bent his head over for me to pet him and smooth out some of his feathers, before I returned him to his Love Ball as well.

I could tell that Altaria desperately wanted to lunge forward and smother me with his pillowy feathers, but he was just too tired, and I had already hammered it into his head that that kind of movement wouldn’t be acceptable after a battle like this.

Maybe in the future, he could do that, but we couldn’t afford to freak out anyone watching who was wary of Megas.

With our Pokémon returned, Roark and I approached to shake hands, where his arm locked up as he used me to stop himself from swaying in the face of the audience. No drones were nearby to act as microphones, so I was able to speak without worrying the crowd would overhear me.

“You need to sleep, and I need to lie down. Do we need to say any final words?” I asked.

Roark tensed his jaw to prevent himself from yawning. I had to do the same just seeing him try.

“No, Sycamore will do it,” he said. “Just smile and wave, Alex. You’re in the big leagues, now.”

I did as he said as the crowd cheered once more, and a hologram of Professor Sycamore appeared above us. His words were short yet important, as he praised us for a wonderful battle, and complimented the League about the rules in place for the phenomenon. He gave a brief few words saying how Mega Evolution was something to “strive for” and not “fear,” speaking from the heart to say how he believed it was the peak of the bond between trainer and Pokémon.

Roark and I only needed to linger for about a minute longer before the short speech ended, letting the pair of us walk off the field. The moment we were out of sight, the Alakazam that had collected Whimsicott’s Miracle Seed from before appeared in front of us and teleported us away.

We had thirty minutes to rest, at most. The majority of my team was given to a nurse to be healed, leaving Ponyta behind to stay with me. Roark was able to take a ten minute nap before being woken up by a weak jolt from a Nosepass that belonged to one of his Gym Trainers that was assisting us. Another assistant’s Pokémon, a Chansey that belonged to a nurse, gave him its egg as well to quickly fill him up with energy.

I just had a shot of espresso. I wasn’t a fan of bitter flavors, but the quick energy was necessary after that battle. After all, we had a press conference to get through.

Thankfully, the media weren't anywhere near as predatory as I was used to, but we would still need to watch what we said to them. In a very stereotypical manner, Roark and I sat behind a raised table as a group of reporters sat in chairs below. A camera in the back would record everything spoken for future reference, but this question and answer session wasn’t being streamed.

Roark took the lead, and since he was the more well known person here, the vast majority of the questions were sent his way.

"Are you happy with the battle's conclusion?"

"How long have you been working with Mega Evolution?"

“Do you think any trainer should have access to Mega Evolution?”

"Why Mega Evolve your Aerodactyl, and not your Ace, Rampardos?"

"How difficult is it for someone to master Mega Evolution?"

"Are you worried about criminals making use of Mega Pokémon to wreak havoc in our cities?"

Some of the questions were polite, and some were obvious digs for ammunition to fearmonger. However, overall, Roark handled it calmly and professionally, answering every question with ease.

The few questions sent my way seemed to be more like probing questions, than anything else. It started with a few simple ones like “What are your thoughts on the battle?” (Roark was a tough opponent that I’m proud that my Pokémon were able to beat. If we battled again, I wouldn’t be surprised if it went either way.) and “Why did you Mega Evolve Altaria in particular?” (I would be happy to Mega Evolve any member of my team, if I had the stones. Out of the two options I have available, he was the one that worked best for the strategy I used today.)

Since I was sponsored by Professor Sycamore, and had directly worked with him for a while, a few questions about the phenomenon that Roark wasn’t answering were sent my way, instead.

I’ll be honest, the first question caught me off guard since it was originally directed at Roark. I thought I handled most of them well, though.

"Does Mega Evolution actually require a close bond between trainer and Pokémon?" a reporter from Jubilife television asked.

"Yes and no," I replied. "It's technically possible to Mega Evolve your Pokémon without being close to them, but doing so requires you to be able to work together on a single goal without hesitation. Only the most determined of trainers and Pokémon would be able to do so, and even then, that mindset would generally mean they would be close partners, anyway. Bonds make the phenomenon significantly easier and let it last longer due to the lower resistance to the trainer’s influence."

"Follow up to the reporter from Jubilife TV's question," a different reporter said once called on. "Alex, Can you elaborate on what you meant by ‘resistance to the trainer’s influence’?"

"Yes, mostly. Basically, Mega Evolution requires the user to stabilize it with their own vitality. No matter what, a Pokémon is going to innately resist that foreign energy, but the closer you are, the more of that Pokémon’s unconscious unwillingness fades, and the easier it is to utilize the phenomenon. I believe Professor Sycamore recently published a paper detailing the differences between new partners and experienced partners attempting to Mega Evolve. More specific information, complete with measurements, can be found in that."

"Thank you."

The reporter sat back down, and no more significant questions were sent my way. A few more reporters asked me variations of questions wanting to know my opinion on the battle, where I just complimented Roark and praised my team.

At the end, Roark asked one more time if there were any last questions, and one person raised their hand.

"Hello, I'm a columnist for Contests Weekly. This question is for Alex. Are you somehow related to the masked coordinator that competed in the recent Jubilife Contest?"

"What?" I asked, surprised.

I didn’t expect this to be asked here of all places, and even more I didn’t expect people to make that connection so quickly. As a result, my quick response was laced with genuine confusion.

The reporters cleared her throat to explain.

"A Coordinator named 'Robin' was seen competing with an Alolan Ninetales and Florges in Jubilife, two Pokémon not commonly found in Sinnoh that happened to be on your team. Due to their rarity, I have to inquire, are you Robin?" she asked.

I also cleared my throat, but I did so to stall and collect my thoughts rather than anything else. Roark sent a curious yet amused glance my way. He was unsure, as well.

(Although I doubted he knew who Robin was.)

"Well, just because their species are rare in this region doesn't mean no other trainers are using them. I can imagine that another Fairy Type specialist has a team including them, as after all, they’re both extremely strong Pokémon. Whoever Robin is, I wish them luck in their future Contests, but if you’re looking for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to your question, you aren’t going to find that here."

She looked a bit dissatisfied, but still sat down anyway. A few reporters in the audience had smirks on their faces, and I could tell they had caught the fact that I had danced around directly answering her question. I had done it rather poorly, after all, but it was the best I could do at a moment's notice.

That was the final question any of the reporters had, so Roark and I were able to leave without any hassle. It hadn't taken that long, but spending over an hour just sitting there and answering questions was exhausting, especially when I had already been tired out from the battle earlier.

"Battle me," Paul's voice rang out.

I turned to face Paul, who had suddenly appeared in that same training area I'd basically been living in since I first arrived in Oreburgh. My nights were spent in the Oreburgh Gym, but during the day, my team and I were training.

With the show battle over and my team having celebrated last night, I was now left with Ninetales, Whimsicott, and Mawile, alongside Dedenne, Carbink, and Ralts, who had been retrieved from the lab.

"How'd you find me?" I asked him instead of responding.

"I asked around,” he responded tersely. “Ketchum told me. So, battle?"

I frowned and stood up to properly place the teenager challenging me. He had that same slightly annoyed expression on his face as he always did, and he was in a stance with his hands in his pocket and his Elekid at his side. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Ralts eyeing it to gauge if it would be a challenge, but I kind of didn’t want to get involved with Paul's issues.

That was Ash’s job.

“Sorry, but I’m going to have to decline. I want to train with my Pokémon right now. While we won the battle with Roark, we still have to battle him for our first badge.”

Paul scoffed.

“Like the outcome is going to be different. He’s weak. You’re strong. Battle me.”

Yeah, I wasn’t going to let that slide.

"So you’re just arbitrarily deciding Roark is weak because he lost? Let me ask you a question." I took a breath. I was a little annoyed. “Have you even fought him in a battle yet?”

He frowned.

"No. I still have a few days left on the waiting list."

"Alright, then you have no way to make that judgment yourself. And don’t give me any crap about him using weak Pokémon.” Paul had his mouth open, only to close it after I said that. “As a follow up, I’m curious: did you catch a Pokémon specifically to use in the Gym?"

At that, his brows furrowed.

"Yes, I did. Your point?"

"I don’t have a point just yet, but I'm not done with my questions, either." I hummed, pretending to think about it. "I don't suppose that Pokémon was an Azumarill, was it?"

Paul was silent. He looked both confused and slightly more annoyed than usual.

"...It was," he eventually replied.

Good. Seems my knowledge of the anime isn't failing me just yet. Maybe I could lay the groundwork to not mistreat his Pokémon right here?

I can’t wait for Ash. His Pokémon, Chimchar especially, deserve better.

"Now then, tell me, if you were fighting a Rock Type, what move would you have your Azumarill use?"

"Hydro Pump, of cou—"

"Wrong," I said, interrupting him.

Paul glared at me.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked.

"Well, tell me why you caught an Azumarill and I’ll explain."

“I caught it for the Gym.”

I waved my hand.

“You know what I mean. Don’t get smart with me just yet.”

He sighed.

"Azumarill is a Water Type Pokémon that can use Water Type moves that are super effective against Rock Types,” he said, somewhat sarcastically. “The Azumarill I caught knows Hydro Pump, which means it should take out any Pokémon Roark sends out with ease.”

I purposely tapped my chin just to put on a show, and Paul glowered at me.

He literally glowered at me.

I didn’t even know what that word truly meant until he did it right in front of me.

"That kind of thinking is the exact reason why I'm not going to fight you," I said.

"What? Why?!" he growled.

"Strong moves don't always mean the best outcome. Sure your Azumarill knows Hydro Pump, and sure it's a powerful move, but that's a freshly caught Pokémon with minimal training that’s using it. You can't expect its Hydro Pump to live up to your high standards if you barely put any time into it."

"I—"

"Also, you're planning to have your Azumarill fight wrong. Sure, there’s no technical right way for a Pokemon to battle. If it wants to attack from range, go for it. Having Pokémon battle the way they want to battle is important.

“However,” I continued, “I know you don’t care for that. You only want the optimal method. Azumarill are capable of developing the Huge Power ability, which makes them better physical attackers than special attackers. You saw Water Type and Hydro Pump together, so you chose your Azumarill solely for that combination, rather than making the most out of what the niche of its species can do for you."

"Azumarill—"

"I'm not going to battle you, Paul, because even though my Pokémon need the experience, you aren't someone I feel is worth facing. You treat your Pokémon as if they are just tools to compete in battles rather than friends to fight alongside you. If that Azumarill didn't do well in the fight, you would have released it or given it away, wouldn't you? You blame Pokémon for performing poorly when we both know it’s the trainer’s lack of proper judgment.”

Paul didn’t speak for a few moments before he spoke to say a single thing before he left.

“I don’t know you.”

His tone of voice was angry, but at the same time, there was clear confusion in it as well. After all, a trainer he had never directly interacted with just shut him down with a complete description of his own thoughts when it came to training.

Unfortunately, that confusion faded away entirely into anger since I did essentially just call him a bad trainer that wasn’t worth battling. I probably went a little harder than needed, but I was rubbed the wrong way with how he spoke about Roark, and I was also trying to start him down the path of treating his Pokémon better.

He left in silence, albeit a thoughtful silence, and I turned back around. Ninetales and Mawile were stunned at my words, while Whimsicott was just covering his mouth and trying not to laugh. Everyone else seemed to be in agreement with me, except for Ralts.

Ralts had the most curious of reactions to what I said. He was looking at me, but not just merely glancing my way. He was really looking at me. On his face was an intent yet unreadable expression that I didn’t quite understand. For all I could tell, something I said about Paul had seemed to resonate with him.

As I tried to process what exactly he was feeling, the guilt about how I just spoke to Paul, a teenager, started to set in.

"I, uh, probably should have been nicer to a kid who's competed in more Conferences than me," I mumbled.

Ninetales sent me an incredulous look.

"Let's just go back to training, huh? Three of you are going to be battling Roark for our first Sinnoh Gym Badge soon.”