“Arc…” Casca murmured to herself. That is… a lot.

  And she didn’t just mean the way the Mega Alakazam looked, either; Kiribo, the Rocket Hunter who was her boyfriend's psychic… trainer? Friend? Friend doesn't quite fit, but let's go with that. Hoshi’s psychic friend was even more over-animated than usual, bouncing around the floating Pokémon like a giant overweight toddler. He’s like a jigglypuff, hah.

  “How does it feel?” James asked from the back of the group as they approached the pair, and both the human and his alakazam looked their way.

  “Magnificent, Lord Kidd! Absolutely magnificent!” Kiribo bounced in place, really and truly acting like he was made of rubber – it was weird, and a little endearing, and she didn’t fully trust it. Exactly like a jigglypuff: looks harmless, but all that cute charm exists to distract you from its song. If Hypno’s in with Kanto’s most distinguished gentleman’s cult… well, Kiribo being the same isn’t much of a stretch. The alakazam, in contrast, almost seemed to be asleep; it floated a few hand-spans off the dirty floor, five spoons slowly orbiting its head like planets around the sun. It made no move to acknowledge any of them, save the subtle motions of its narrowed eyes. “Like the molten blood of the earth itself,” the hunter continued. “Flowing through my veins!”

  Then, a distracted comment from below. “This is a favourable reaction. And you believe you can hold it in a fight?”

  Mokusen’s words provoked a chopping gesture. “Of course! Our bond is not so fragile that it could be broken, not by anything! In fact, I'm certain our power exceeds even-!”

  [DO NOT,] came an incredibly loud interruption, [SPEAK THE NAME.] It had obviously come from the alakazam – though Casca wasn't sure how it was obvious – who had cracked open one eye all the way to glare pointedly. Arcus, that's a lot too. While she'd heard that communicating with an alakazam could be taxing, she'd assumed that would be because of, like, the complicatedness of its thoughts, not… volume. It must be because it’s a Mega.

  Then her attention shifted as Hoshi, a bewildered line etching his brow, twisted his head back to look from one cringing figure to the next. “Did… something happen?”

  “You didn't hear that?”

  “No. Hear what, Casca?”

  “The… telepathy?” Would you not hear it even more than us? Man, I really don't have a handle on this magical brain stuff at all…

  Her boyfriend continued to look despondent, until Kiribo – who'd been the only one other than him to not be all but bowled over by the alakazam's sentence – marched up and put a hand on his shoulder. “My protégé, do not be alarmed; for his own reasons, my partner has decided to refrain from speaking directly to you. But this is not due to any grudge against or mislike towards your person! He is as steadfast in his dedication to our shared fate as you or I!” A faux-wise nod, and again Casca was pulled between amusement and distrust as Hoshi responded with a look of faint disgust.

  “Yeah, sure, okay – I just wanted to know what was up, no need to pull the brotherly union crap.” He shrugged the other man's hand off, and Kiribo let it go with another, more determined nod.

  “I am glad you understand! Now, do we not have further business to attend to, Professor?” Silence. “…Professor?”

  “Mokusen?” Arlo questioned as well, his incredulity at being simply placed to the side finally replaced with fresh irritation. “What's so fascinating about that Pokémon? We've all seen a Mega Alakazam before – well, the upper crust among us, at any rate.”

  For a further handful of seconds Dabi Mokusen remained silent, and when he did speak it wasn't with any more presence than his earlier comment. “Multi-threading..? I wasn't aware the effect would be so pronounced…”

  “I told you our method of evolution had its own benefits,” Kiribo replied, and Casca blinked as the conversation rose above her head. “It is more dangerous, but is that not so often the case when one pursues the highest level of excellence?”

  At that, the diminutive scientist growled. “Not at all.” Then he whirled, a customary scowl on his face. “But your earlier words were more sensical; let's get on with it. Kichi, correct?”

  Okay, back onto familiar ground. “That's me, sir. Casca Kichi, Rocket Grunt in the accelerated agent track.”

  She gave a mostly-sincere salute, and he grunted – and drew from his labcoat’s deep pockets what looked to be two Mega Stones. “Like several existing Mega Evolutions, I've deduced that starmie has what Kalosian scholars colloquially call X and Y variants. And while it is impossible to determine the exact characteristics without direct observation of the end result, patterns within those already-existing Megas lead me to believe that one variant will produce greater physical power, and the other greater control over energy expression. Which would you prefer?”

  “Power, ob-” started her man, before he swiftly bit his tongue. Hah, Casca thought as she tilted her head his way, forcing Hoshi to avert his eyes lest he acknowledge the blush rising to his cheeks. You might always grouse about Kenny being a meathead, but you’re the one with the most muscley ‘mons, you know?

  But despite the urge to continue centering herself with some light teasing, the woman forced herself to sober up. The two spheres held loosely in Mokusen's tiny hand were, all of a sudden, scarily enticing – Casca had never gotten the hype around Pokémon training, not even as a little kid, but she was feeling what must be a shadow of it now. Which do I pick? Candy only really has Rapid Spin for physical attacks, but it's a damn good one…

  But no, Casca really didn't like the idea of getting up close and personal with the Indigo League – long-range it was. “The energy one,” came her answer, more decisive than she actually felt. Shit, wait, should I have let her choose?

  Well, it would be too embarrassing to take back now; the scientist was already handing it over. “Starmite Y, then. A logical enough choice I suppose.” She accepted it, and found the Mega Stone to be… light. The Water Stone had been heavy, but this one felt like an ordinary glass ball. “Do you need me to go through the safety lecture again, or were you actually listening?”

  “I was listening.” I guess it makes sense that it feels different – the actual power of it comes from me, not the thing itself. “Sir.”

  “I’ll take you at your word,” Mokusen concluded, and dug in his pocket again – this time passing her the smaller, duller Key Stone. Then he turned back to the hovering alakazam, seemingly content to watch it rather than a brand-new Mega Evolution. “Well?” he continued after a beat. “As several people have pointed out-”

  “We're strapped for time!” James finished.

  And so she was hurried back to the centre of the room, and within twenty seconds Casca had the rest of her Pokémon back in their balls, leaving Candy squared-up and ready to go.

  Despite the watching crowd – or, maybe, because of it – she took a minute to breathe. Really wanna finish my smoke… Blah. It took longer than she'd have liked, but when she was good and ready the woman kneeled. “Hey girl. You get what's going on, right?”

  Candy's new look – not all that different from mine, really; blue’s really in this season, hah – had given her a more animated streak. While her limbs remained fairly rigid in comparison to most animals, the connection point between her front and back let her spin as much as she wanted – an ability the starfish monster was taking full advantage of, rotating her second quintet of limbs rapidly behind her like a rubbery propeller. “Huh!” she agreed, and Casca tapped the grey-and-orange-swirled Mega Stone against her brilliantly glowing gem.

  Like with Guts, it sunk in – and there was a brief, dizzying sensation that made Casca feel, if only for a half-second, that she was falling. “Uh-” Then she blinked, and it was gone. Her feet were firmly under her, her stomach wasn’t doing a doomed attempt at a flip, and Candy was standing, ‘staring’ at her with an eyeless gaze. The stone was firmly stuck into the ‘mon's gem, the colours blending smoothly. “Does that- I mean, you feel alright?”

  “Huh-YAH!”

  Good, that’s good. Casca stood, and awkwardly tried to feel for the muscle Mokusen had described as Hoshi, James, Meowth, and the rest watched. Usually don't get stage fright this easy…

  Seconds passed, the atmosphere growing increasingly heavy – and she found it. The woman's brows furrowed as she felt at the… thing. It's like a… missing tooth, almost. Missing from where, she couldn't say, but that was the sensation. Okay, so I found it. Now how do I..? Trying to push at the phantom gap did nothing, same with pulling and squeezing. “Uh, what exactly do I do to, you know… start?”

  Hoshi hesitantly opened his mouth, but it was James who spoke first. “For me, I focus on my connection to Malamar – our shared history, and the way that history has built trust.”

  A beat of silence to check whether her boyfriend was going to follow the suggestion up – he didn't – and then Casca nodded. Trust. Got it…

  Again, her face scrunched in concentration. I trust Candy. She's gotten me out of plenty of different scrapes. Casting back, Casca recalled the first time she'd seen the starfish – a memory that had happened only a few weeks after learning who she'd really been working for.

  The room looked stupid. Not ugly, or necessarily mismatched – no, it looked stupid. Like the person who’d built it only had the dimmest possible understanding of what a house was for.

  There was a mat laid down over a thick carpet, despite there being a perfectly functional tile entrance room between it and the front door. To her left was a dresser holding up a microwave, to her right a refrigerator, and neither of the appliances were plugged in.

  And in front of her, a man seated behind a large, mom-and-pop-shop-style counter, complete with cash register. He was ugly and mismatched, with keen eyes peeking out from thick clown makeup below silky, well-cut hair. “Let me guess,” her new handler said, revealing teeth a little too perfect to be real. “You're thinking ‘whoever put this safehouse together is an idiot,’ right?”

  His smile, red-rimmed and with a large, jagged scar going right down the middle, told her he wasn't actually expecting an answer, and Casca took his measure without consciously meaning to. Old, in his fifties or early sixties under the muck – from the bad old days after the collapse. Plays the clown thing for laughs, thinks it's funny. Sees it as ‘his thing,’ and it gives him an excuse to cover up how wrinkly he's getting – and to pop anyone who actually laughs.

  “It's certainly unique, sir,” she answered with a smile of her own. A demure one; he was old old-school, maybe even ronin, and that meant he wouldn't take even the most playful lip from a younger woman – but it also presented a convenient shield against what she predicted to be a pretty nasty personality. Honour… hah.

  He wouldn't take out the missing teeth or aching bones on her like he would another man – not if she acted ‘right.’ And with a nod, he confirmed her analysis. “They set it up just enough to be plausible, but I halfway think the idiocy is the point. Make the blues look stupid for not figuring it out sooner, yeah?”

  “Makes as much sense as anything, sir.” She made sure to emphasise the title, but not too much. “You're my new handler, right?”

  Another nod, low and slow, his smile fixed in place. But those bright, clever eyes darted lightning-quick, checking her for a piece, or a knife, and Casca nodded back in her head. If he isn't ex-samurai, he's at least ex-military. Or just so entrenched in the underworld he may as well have been; at a certain point the distinctions between smuggler and mountain bandit and soldier broke down.

  “That I am. Assuming you're Cascade of the Kichi?”

  “That’s me.”

  “Then yes, I will be your Rocket contact for as long as you're in Cerulean. Come on in, and leave your shoes; this carpet holds stains like a Fuchsian whore tracks her grudges.”

  Classy. But she did as ordered, slipping off her sneakers and leaving them on the tile rather than the flimsy mat – earning another nod – and soon enough the new Rocket Grunt was accepting a heavy-fingered handshake. “Garland,” the old gangster introduced. “Senior Grunt. Now, let's get to it…” With his smile still in place, he reached down below the desk and brought up two shrunken Pokéballs. “You're lucky, Kichi. It's been a good season, and so I've got some higher-class monsters to offer you.”

  Her mind continued cataloguing details as first one, then both balls were expanded to their full size. The smile, too, was a form of armour – though that aspect pointed inward more than out. It hurts. It pulls the scars, and the pain makes those scars impossible to ever forget – this guy's living in a particular time and place, and he never, ever wants to leave. Not the war, that was too recent… This Garland had probably come to Rocket through hating the Pallet League – or maybe even just Oak personally. He definitely has that squared-off Pallet Town look…

  But Casca put her speculations aside as the Pokémon were released. Two flashes – and despite her handler’s words, she was surprised. These are open ocean monsters.

  A staryu, and a seel. The former stood upright, stock-still on two of its five identical legs, while the latter bobbed its head curiously from where it was laid out over the carpet.

  “Wow,” she said, genuinely impressed. “You weren't kidding. I can pick either one?”

  “That's right. If you're looking for advice, I'd suggest the starfish; a Gym Leader's anchor is always a good pick.”

  That had been her first thought as well. Misty Katsumi’s had a starmie forever. And maybe it was childish, but there was some kind of bastard hometown pride dwelling in Casca's gut from the lifelong correction she'd had to – would probably always have to – make, telling people over and over that no, she wasn't related to the Gym Leader at all.

  But on the other hand… The seel, with its white fur and dog-like face, was charming – much more than the featureless, enigmatic star. I'm trying to stick with conning and spying and stuff, not battling… And while dewgong had been the opening act for the Elite Four for a good while, it wasn't seen as a strong monster. Ugh, I've never been good at pondering…

  Snap decision it was then. They were both good Pokémon, so that criteria was useless; both water types; she liked the look of the seal monster more, but that was a little too shallow to weigh in on such an important decision… “Do you know their genders?” she asked, more to acquire thinking time than actual interest.

  “The seel is female, the staryu is… I forget if they are sexless or both, but either way the answer is ‘other.’”

  Hmm, no help there either. Another round of thought passed quietly, Garland content to let the indecisive little girl-child take her time as he stole quick glances at her assets… and in the end that silly Cerulean pride won out.

  “You're right, I'll take the staryu.”

  And, somehow understanding her words despite being an obvious baby, the orange star let out an enthusiastic “Huh!”

  The memory was clear, less than two years old, and she was able to hold the entire thing firmly in mind as she kept trying to interface with the Key Stone. Come on, Hoshi got it first try..!

  And, as she felt the faint nostalgia the memory brought, then further emotions as her time with Candy played on through less concrete flashes and impressions, there came a sensation like a switch being flipped – or a weird inverted lack-of-a-switch. Something inside Casca’s self shifted… and the Key Stone felt suddenly warm. Like sand going through the middle of an hourglass, was the first thing she thought, images of waterspouts and blood pumping to a steady beat coming in the next second. Then she got her game face on, and – with a little gesture because this was super cool – the trainer cried out.

  If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

  “Candy, Mega Evolve!”

  Candy had evolved the normal way only a single day ago, and as things hung for a moment, still, Casca worried that might mean she lacked the requisite strength – but then the sand-water-blood went out a touch faster, and the starmie’s body began to glow and shift. It started, as with the show she’d given yesterday, with her arms; all of them, both back and front, began to split further. But soon her trainer’s attention was dragged away from the multiplying limbs and to her core, which was changing as well.

  The red gem finished absorbing the smaller Mega Stone, and for just a moment it took on the same colour – grey and orange swirling together, a rainbow sheen reflecting the light coming off her skin, the helix pattern visible deep inside, growing, twisting-

  And then the gem itself gave off an even more intense light, and Casca had to shield her eyes. “HUH!” Candy cried, the sound exultant. “HUH! Huh-ya! HUH!”

  Moments passed – and by the time the radiance dimmed, it was over. Casca attempted to blink the light out of her eyes, but the effort proved futile; staring at the Mega Starmie’s boosted glow had dazzled her too much to recover right away. “Ugh…” Good to know we can be a lot, too… I guess. She wasn’t blind, but her vision was a muddy splotch of orange like she’d just taken a good long gander at the sun. “That was bright. You doing okay, girl?”

  “Yuh!”

  “Great. Just gimme a sec to…”

  Further blinking produced something approaching acute vision, and slowly the starmie’s new form came into focus. Oh. Okay, that’s about what I’d have expected. Missed most of the change, but the end result is… pretty cool!

  Unlike Guts, which had returned to a more youthful, if large and powerful, body plan, or the machamp, which had transformed into a damn dinosaur, Candy’s evolution was more comparable to the alakazam’s. It was a doubling-down on what her natural evolution had already done – namely, split her up, increase the complexity of her core, and change her colour. The most immediately noticeable difference were the arms, which numbered… Thirty, forty? Somewhere around there. It was hard to get an exact count, because the Mega Pokémon's body has gained it least two new axes of rotation; she was like a spikey spherical version of those match-the-colour cube toys, a comparison that was extra appropriate given that Candy was now a mix-and-match jumble of different colours herself.

  They weren't the most vibrant shades of the rainbow – in fact she was closer to grey than not taken all together – but the difference was still striking. But once the spectacle of seeing her Pokémon rotating madly – while hovering, I didn't even notice that – wore off, it was the Mega Starmie's gem that captured Casca's eye.

  Where a staryu had a smooth round cabochon and a normal starmie a simple octagonal cut, Candy now boasted what was very obviously a diamond cut to her core. A brilliant, I think? Not quite the classic, but not a princess either… Probably not any named cut, but I'm not sure – it's been a while since needing to compliment someone's jewelry by name was part of my daily grind. And it most likely wouldn't ever be relevant again, a thought that sent a bittersweet pang through the ex-socialite’s chest. It's… pretty. Each of the dozens of triangular facets gleamed a slightly different colour, forming a full circular rainbow around a combined-into-white central pane – and those shades were much more vibrant than those of the starmie's arms, to boot.

  The golden crest-thing surrounding her gem had also changed, and now had ten ‘spokes’ coming off rather than eight. They’d lengthened substantially as well, though three in particular were far and away the longest. Wait…

  “That's a Y,” Casca said, incredulous. “Is that- I thought you said these were theoretical evolutions?” You implied you've never seen either Mega before – so what the heck?

  Professor Mokusen, still paying Kiribo's alakazam more attention than anything else even as said ‘kazam was – together with its trainer – examining Candy's new form, replied without looking away. “They were. I tested the stone for the proper energy signature when exposed to the appropriate species, obviously, but as of this moment you are the first to ever Mega Evolve a starmie.” But… I mean, I guess it could just be a weird coincidence..? “Though yes, X and Y variant Mega Stones do tend to induce physical changes in line with their naming scheme – hence why such a convention exists in the first place.”

  She continued to frown, unsatisfied, but a question interrupted. “How does it feel?” Hoshi asked, and Casca’s frown changed texture as she pulled words in and out of a sentence until something sufficiently answer-shaped had formed.

  “It's… heavy. Like there's a little hole in the bottom of the ocean, and water's going through, but there's so much it's like… like you know how in a cartoon, two people will try to go through the same door and-?”

  “Aha!” James exclaimed. “The old mouse and two cats routine. Classic!”

  “Meow.”

  Hoshi listened semi-anxiously as James and Meowth did their back-and-forth, not actually paying the executives much attention. Most of his focus was on Casca, and Candy, and the wispy, whispery bond that had formed between them the moment the Starmite Y had made contact. It's like Hypno's. I can't really see it, or tell what it's doing – but I can tell something is there. And, like Hypno and Heibelle, there was a different texture of that ephemeral something travelling the length of the tube. That must be the energy. EPI energy from Candy, DNA energy from Casca.

  He, too, had probably had one of those connections while Guts had been Mega’d up, though he hadn't seen it. But I also wasn't looking – I was distracted by actually feeding the transformation. And hallucinating. Yeah, and that… but Casca seems to be doing fine. He was pretty sure now that the melding state he’d experienced with Guts had been a side-effect of his personal weirdness, not something that came standard with Mega Evolution – otherwise, his girlfriend would probably have been freaking out a bit more.

  Meaning she's fine. The Doc is a special case; Casca isn't going to get like that. Or turn into a zombie like Dabi. Damn it… why does this feel wrong?

  Because he was a damned hypocrite, probably; Hoshi was fine putting his own ass on the line – to a certain point – but seeing Casca doing the same made his teeth ache. But it's fine. She succeeded, and we can't do this more than once a day, so things have to wind down any minute now…

  And of course, his asshole subconscious chose that exact moment to tune back into the conversation. “…See what it can do!” James finished, the first half of the sentence more than discernible from context. Oh, Arcus fuck.

  Meowth growled back wordlessly, and the instructor waved. “Grunt Kichi! Are you up for a battle? Malamar really does enjoy facing other psychic types-”

  He cut off – was cut off, probably – with a cringe, and the enforcer looked to the Mega Alakazam along with everyone else. Again, can't hear a thing… but pattern recognition counts for something.

  “A splendid idea!” Kiribo projected over the silence. “Miss Kichi, my partner and I would like to request a duel! Care to test your abilities against our own?”

  “…Nooo? I, uh-”

  “Magnificent! Let the stage be set and the curtains raised, for the first showcase of our new power is about to unfold!”

  “Darn it,” James followed. “I never get to have a casual battle anymore…”

  “Hey! I said no!” Casca whirled, alarmed. “Hoshi!”

  “Hah…” Yeah, no need to subject you to Kiribo's unfair ‘mon. It was ridiculous as a normal alakazam, and if it's gotten as big a boost as Guts did then… yeah, no. The mind-control squid is actually the better option here. “Okay, let's…” But mid-sentence, another thought occurred. Actually… This is a relatively safe environment, right? The fact that the fat man had his sword drawn said no, not at all, but that was just the Psychic Hunter’s personal brand of nonsense. Probably. “…Do this right. I'll referee."

  “Hoshi!”

  He smiled as he strolled to the proper place, causing Casca to pout as she looked between him, the hunter, and the alakazam. ‘That’s not fair!’ she communicated with her face.

  Sure it is. Turnabout is fair play; there's a saying and everything.

  The pout deepened. ‘Not when it's against me it isn't!’ he imagined her saying, and then the Cerulean woman let out a sigh. “Alright, fine. Candy, prepare for battle!”

  “Huh-huh!”

  Okay, stay calm. This is a normal Pokémon battle, even if the other guy has a sword. Seeing Hoshi run around had been funny, but right now, having said sword pointed at her, any humorous quality had gone stale. I am so getting him back for this..!

  “Trainers, are you ready?” Hoshi projected, his deep tone a passable match for an actual referee’s – though unlike the real thing, he continued without giving either combatant a chance to answer. “This will be a single Pokémon-on-Pokémon duel. No switches, items, or use of psychic powers by either trainer will be tolerated.”

  “As if I would sully the field of honour by-”

  “The winner will be determined by knockout, surrender, or de-evolution. Begin on three! One! Two!”

  All her trepidation was shoved aside with a shout. “Candy, Bubblebeam!”

  “Show them our mettle, my partner!”

  “…Three. You're both fucking cheaters, you know that?”

  Candy, rotating furiously, let out an equally-furious “Yah!” as her attack built. Each and every one of her arms let loose a stream of brilliantly glowing bubbles, which curved around and around her airborne body until it resembled a nucleus surrounded by a cloud of orbiting electrons. Holy-! It was easily ten times the volume as the previous day’s version of the same attack, and with another exclamation the Mega Starmie's core flashed white.

  “Ugh-!” Again – and despite being on her ‘mon's back side – Casca was dazzled. “Damn it, Candy..!” Is it instinctive? I really don't wanna be blinded every time we do this!

  Hoshi grunted as he shielded his eyes against the blaring light. “Arc…” I can almost hear it it's so fucking bright. That's ever harsher than Humvee’s Flash…

  But his third eye remained usable, if still muddied from bottoming out earlier, and so he saw a hazy, emotions-based version of the Bubblebeam hitting home. A muted, multilayered satisfaction from Candy, backlit by Casca's frustration at being unable to see – and on the other side, a calm acceptance amplified to the point it seemed almost frantic.

  And as always, Kiribo was all but invisible in the psychic plane – no matter how animated his body was. “Ack!” he cried. “My eyes-! Foul treachery, fair maiden!”

  There was a continuous impact, the sound of thousands of miniscule explosions overlapping, combining into something far greater, and Hoshi forced his eyes to open a sliver. For a moment there was only haze – and then the water vapour cleared, revealing the alakazam still sitting serenely, a spherical forcefield having protected it from the attack. “Ooh!” James cried from the other side of the ‘field.’” “Blocked by Protect! Alakazam takes no damage!”

  “Good move. Tiring, but less than matching big attack with big attack – let's watch the retal-liation.”

  “Are you seriously doing commentary?!” Casca screeched, for once fed up with the bit. “Ugh- whatever, Harden and Camouflage!”

  Candy cried out her agreement – and Hoshi was surprised to see that the combination actually went through. As the Mega Starmie first became shiny like enamel then disappeared as its colours changed to blend into the environment, Kiribo and his Pokémon simply let it happen.

  “It seems the Psychic Hunter isn't taking his opponent seriously! What do you make of it, Meowth?”

  “Meow.”

  “Exceedingly possible!”

  Even the side-chat failed to budge the two psychics, and Hoshi began to feel decidedly anxious about whatever it was they were cooking up. And they're definitely cooking something; Kiribo gets stupidly competitive about certain things, and the fact that Candy's also psychic type means he's going to put his whole ass in. Flashbacks to having his team wrecked played through the enforcer's mind, and though that had been back before any of them had evolved, the difference had still been ridiculous.

  And when the response came, it was appropriately overblown; one by one the spoons adorning the alakazam’s necklace came free, joining their unbent counterparts around its head. “Let us test the waters, as it were!” Kiribo said, and his partner raised a hand.

  Every other creature aside from it, its master, and Hoshi, cringed – including the still-evolved Andre, the huge Mega Machamp letting out an eye-watering groan… and then, the actual attack. Each one of the twelve spoons flew out, glinting brightly despite the low light, and from those glints came tiny stars.

  Is that..? “Swift?”

  If it was, it must've been modified to the extreme; each star was tiny, but there were as many as there had been bubbles making up Candy's Bubblebeam. The section of rotting hallway was instantly transformed into a swirling galaxy, and Hoshi could only marvel. Arc damn it, somehow the most annoying people always end up strong…

  Admiration, frustration, and a tiny edge of trepidatious fear for the state of his girlfriend's Pokémon mixed together as that tiny, dangerous galaxy began to converge, and for a moment he considered calling it off… But no, I can't do that. Casca might not have been a fighter, but she was a trainer. And that still means – will always mean – that she has my respect. So he dashed the impulse to do anything condescending against the metaphorical ground, and replaced it with trust. “You've got this!” And if she doesn't, then she can forfeit.

  Casca only grunted back, watching the attack converge on the Invisible Starmie along with everyone else – whose location was, as became swiftly apparent, now directly above the hovering enemy. “Yes!” she cried. “Rapid Spin!”

  That was the cue for the pace to accelerate, and in the next moment a number of things happened. First, the Swift, or whatever it was, began hitting, causing Candy to immediately become visible as her skin became damaged; the Mega Starmie blew through the impacts as she descended, body a whirling spherical buzzsaw. Then, the alakazam raised its hand – and the spread-out spoons were teleported between it and the starfish.

  “Fight on!” Kiribo yelled, and Hoshi couldn't tell if it was an order or just the man being hot-blooded. But either way, his partner met the descending Rapid Spin with another attack – all while its spoons continued to spew out tiny missiles of light.

  That's… Psychic! It wasn't a sure thing – the move itself wasn't particularly visible – but Hoshi's empathetic sight saw a bloom of hundreds of threads spring out to envelope the starmie, so it was psychic type if nothing else. Candy continued to get pummeled by the Swift as telekinetic force held her in place, and though her scything limbs cut tens and hundreds of threads the move, whatever it was, simply grabbed on again and continued to gum up every attempt at motion.

  “Recover!” Casca ordered. “Try to push through! Alakazam is made of glass, hit it and you’ll win!”

  “Oho! You'll find us more than capable of rising to that challenge, Grunt Kichi!”

  But for a moment, it seemed he would be proven wrong. Candy continued to whirl, advancing sluggishly as new flesh grew in to replace what was being gradually worn away – a process that was hard to see with her arms, but plainly visible by looking at the stationary golden crest protecting the monster's core. Then, straining with visible effort despite her lack of facial features, the starfish fully broke free – and the alakazam simply blinked away with a Teleport.

  And before Hoshi could even move his eyes to find the ‘mon's new position, the spoons were out again. The onslaught of twinkling stars cut off, only to be replaced by a tiny ball of fire sent out to ricochet between them. Fire..? Why-

  The Camouflage! That was right – it didn't just make the starmie hard to see, it changed her type. And given the immediate surroundings she was blending in to…

  As he'd predicted, when the fire move – Ember? – hit Candy in the back, she screeched and proved that she had indeed turned from water to grass.

  “A super-effective hit!”

  “Fast reaction – Abra is smart, if insuf-ferable.”

  But the Recover continued in defiance of the damage, and both Candy and Hoshi zeroed in on the enemy a moment later. Damnit, it's just floating there. Waiting. Not taking this seriously at all… His teeth grit. It really was just like his own battle against the stupid thing – though Casca’s Pokémon had at least taken more than one attack, so it wasn’t the same level of embarrassing.

  “Damnit,” Casca muttered, echoing his thoughts. “Approach with Bubblebeam!”

  The battle continued, but though Candy was putting in a much better showing than Hoshi felt Guts would have in her place, it was the Pokémon battle equivalent of carving through a mountain with a shovel. The Mega Starmie demonstrated an uncanny speed, the ability to bend her attacks into multiple streams, what the watching enforcer believed to be some special ability involving the light from her gem – and, as things went on, a shocking level of durability. But every time she pulled out a new trick, the alakazam simply did the same. Middling attacks were replaced by solid ones – Hoshi’s teeth began to hurt when it actually pulled out Psychic, revealing the previous telekinesis to be mere Confusion – and then things that seemed wholly original to the point he couldn’t recognise them, all of it done with the same effort one would give against a training dummy.

  And when there finally seemed to be a glint of hope, Candy finally managing to connect with Bubblebeam, the alakazam revealed a vicious Double Team-Substitute-Teleport combo that had been set up for who knew how long.

  So in the end, Kiribo was victorious. “Candy is unable to battle!” Hoshi announced as the starfish reverted to her normal form all at once, her unconsciousness causing it to happen many times faster than Guts had regressed. The Mega Stone clinked to the ground beside her, and then with a red flash the starmie disappeared.

  “Ugh…” Casca grunted as she slumped. “Not even a single hit… You’re really strong, you know that?”

  Hoshi expected Kiribo to be smug, but instead of chanting something stupid about battle or manly valour the chubby Rocket simply walked forward with a sharp look to his face. “A fine match,” he said to the not-quite-grimacing Casca, and offered his hand.

  They shook… And with that, things were actually done. Not for the Psychic Hunter – who seemed to be full of even more energy than usual, still – but both Hoshi and Casca were, without the adrenaline rush of combat, suddenly all but catatonic.

  Holy shit, Hoshi thought as he struggled to comprehend Dabi’s latest monologue concerning Mega Evolution. I feel like I’ve been up three days in a row… Meowth had been right; there was no way he could battle in this state. Anything more than releasing a Pokémon would make him fall over.

  So the moment there was a sufficient gap in the man’s words, he begged off. Hoshi Mutsu and his girlfriend leaned against each other as they made their way back to the dorms, and then they collectively collapsed into a bed. Neither of them had enough energy to so much as take their shoes off, or to get under the covers; they simply lay there, waiting for the inevitable specter of sleep to descend.

  “Hoshi…” Casca groaned, barely coherent. “That suuucked…”

  “Uh,” he affirmed. “But it was… pretty cool though…”

  She grunted back – and then consciousness fled.

  yes, I know it's inspired by Ultraman's kaiju, but it's just so... plain. Not every Mega needs to be flashy, but Starmie disappointed me in a way that froslass, scolipede, scrafty, and a lot of other 'plain' Megas didn't.

  God damn it I don't wanna scrap that work.

  Mega Raticate, the Enhanced Mouse Pokémon

  Weight: 172 lbs. / 78 kg

  Habitat: Grassland, Forest, Urban. Found on all discovered continents.

  Lifespan: 25-35 Years

  Type: Normal/Dark

  Abilities: Run Away (Increased ability to flee from battle), Guts (Increased physical strength when poisoned, paralysed, or burned), Hustle (Increases physical strength to the detriment of fine movements), Thick Fat (Decreases the damage this Pokémon takes from Ice and Fire moves), Gluttony (Increased stomach capacity and ability to metabolise Pokéfruit)

  Attack: 111 (+30)

  Defence: 80 (+20)

  Sp. Attack: 50

  Sp. Defense: 80 (+10)

  Speed: 137 (+40)

  Mega Starmie Y, the Enhanced Mysterious Pokémon

  Weight: 220 lbs. / 99.8 kg

  Habitat: Ocean Floor. Found in cold salt water.

  Lifespan: No Observed Limit

  Type: Water/Psychic

  Abilities: Super Illumination (Attracts wild Pokémon, and gives this Pokémon's special attacks the chance to reduce an opponent's accuracy)

  CONTACT button on your PokéDex to contact Oak Labs.

  Attack: 65 (-10)

  Defence: 110 (+25)

  Sp. Attack: 140 (+40)

  Sp. Defense: 105 (+20)

  Speed: 140 (+25)