Chapter 211

Chapter 211: Chapter 211

Steven released his shiny Metagross.

"Meta—!"

The Pokémon landed on the battlefield with a heavy metallic cry, its brilliant silver body reflecting the sunlight and making the already rare shiny Pokémon look even more extravagant.

"Metagross, Psychic."

Steven’s voice remained gentle.

Psychic power immediately wrapped around Gimmighoul, lifting the entire chest into the air and squeezing it from every direction.

Gimmighoul cried out in pain but couldn’t break free.

"Metagross."

Steven gave another quiet command.

Metagross released its hold, allowing Gimmighoul to drop.

"Gimmighoul, use Astonish!"

The chest flew open as Gimmighoul released a piercing cry.

Metagross looked mildly annoyed by the noise, but since this was effectively an exhibition match designed to help Gimmighoul gain experience, it obediently produced a convincing startled reaction.

"Meta—!"

"Tackle!"

Gimmighoul jumped out of its chest, dragged the heavy container across the battlefield, and swung it straight into Metagross.

The impact sent the silver Pokémon flying backward.

"Meta—!"

Metagross released an appropriately pained cry before landing on its back with all four limbs in the air, completely motionless.

Mike leaned toward Cynthia and whispered, "Its acting is way more natural than yours and Garchomp’s was back then."

The corner of Cynthia’s mouth curved upward.

But suddenly... a blade-like arm came to rest against Mike’s neck.

Cold sweat immediately appeared on his forehead.

"Uh... if I said I was joking, would you believe me?"

"Heh."

Cynthia gave a quiet snort and allowed Garchomp to lower her arm.

...

Meanwhile, Gimmighoul let out an excited cry after defeating Metagross.

Its presence steadily intensified before dazzling white light suddenly erupted from its body.

The old treasure chest began disappearing.

Gimmighoul’s small body rapidly stretched upward.

"Ghold—!"

The cry carried a bright metallic ring.

When the evolutionary light vanished, a glittering golden figure stood before them.

Gholdengo.

The evolution had succeeded!

Mike stared at the newly evolved Pokémon.

Its entire body gleamed like polished gold, built from countless tightly layered coins whose edges formed the ringed patterns running across its body.

Several curled, coin-like strands swept upward from its head, while hollow oval eyes and a permanently easygoing smile gave it an oddly carefree expression.

A pale belt circled its waist, and attached near the side was a remnant of the treasure chest it had once inhabited.

As expected of a Pokémon created through obscene amounts of money, it looked expensive at first glance.

Manryo hurried over and wrapped Gholdengo in a hug, laughing with obvious relief.

"That’s wonderful, Gholdengo. Thank you."

Gholdengo returned the embrace, its eyes curving happily.

"Ghold~"

[Now I can protect you too~]

Manryo couldn’t understand the words themselves.

But Mike could.

So that was why Gimmighoul had been so desperate to evolve.

It wanted the strength to protect Manryo.

After letting Gholdengo go, Manryo walked over to Steven and extended his hand.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Stone."

"You’re welcome."

Steven shook it.

Behind the two men floated shiny Metagross and the newly evolved Gholdengo.

Manryo’s pale green hair contrasted with Steven’s silver-blue, while both men wore perfectly tailored suits.

Behind one stood a gleaming silver Metagross, behind the other, a dazzling golden Gholdengo.

Silver and gold.

The combination somehow suited them absurdly well. ℴℴ𝘮

There were some people you only needed to see once to understand what a genuine young master from a wealthy family looked like.

Their posture, mannerisms, natural composure, and even how perfectly their Pokémon complemented them were things ordinary people simply couldn’t imitate.

Standing together beneath the sunlight, the two made even the daylight look more expensive.

The breeze felt expensive.

The air itself seemed to smell like money!

Mike silently raised his camera and captured the scene.

A rich guy beside a genuinely rich guy.

With Gholdengo standing behind them.

This was wealth taken to its logical extreme!

...

"Everything ready?"

Mike walked out of his room with a yawn and looked curiously over the equipment arranged throughout the courtyard.

"Good afternoon."

Steven sat nearby drinking tea with Lucian and Manryo, greeting Mike politely when he appeared.

"Everything’s ready," Lucian added.

Mike looked at the three men sitting together and had to admit that Lucian somehow didn’t lose out at all beside Steven and Manryo.

All three carried themselves with remarkable elegance, and Lucian’s own presence was every bit as polished as theirs.

"Tonight’s the full moon," Manryo said. "For some reason, I’m actually getting nervous."

"Nothing to be nervous about. We’ll just let things happen naturally."

Mike glanced toward everyone still preparing the site.

Ever since Norman, the Normal-type specialist, and Bertha, Sinnoh’s Ground-type Elite Four member, had arrived to help the professors, Mike had essentially abandoned all responsibility and spent most of each day rampaging through the forests around Celestic Town.

He had caused so much chaos that some of the elderly residents had begun wondering whether the forest was haunted.

Every day, strange Pokémon cries, explosions, and miserable wailing could be heard echoing from the trees.

Professor Carolina eventually had to send Cynthia out to drag Mike back, after which he finally restrained himself a little.

Snivy brought Mike the remaining breakfast. He shared some with Hatenna, then settled down with her in his arms while chatting with the others.

"By the way, Mr Steven, where are you mining these days?" Mike asked.

"Kalos. I heard Professor Sycamore recently excavated an entirely new Mega Stone, so once the Ursaluna matter is finished, I intend to visit him."

Mike: "..."

Then his eyes widened.

He had completely forgotten about it!

He had once asked Professor Rowan to contact Professor Sycamore on his behalf and inquire whether he could see the newly discovered Mega Stone.

Mike immediately pulled out his tablet, logged into the email account he rarely used, and discovered several messages from Professor Sycamore’s laboratory.

He opened them and quickly found information regarding the new Mega Stone.

The stone was primarily gray-white, with a lightning-like pattern inside formed from orange-red coloration streaked faintly with black.

{Staraptorite: When held by Staraptor, this Mega Stone can resonate with a Key Stone, awakening dormant power within Staraptor and allowing it to Mega Evolve.}

Mike stared at the screen.

’So it really is a completely new Mega Stone?’

Mega Staraptor was something that had only appeared much later in Pokémon Legends: Z-A.

According to the timeline Mike remembered, Staraptorite shouldn’t even exist yet.

Something was off.

Was this world not actually the Pokémon world he remembered?

Or had his presence somehow begun changing events?

Mike fell into thought.

Mega Staraptor was no joke either.

Between its formidable physical attributes and Contrary, moves like Close Combat could make it increasingly dangerous the longer it fought instead of wearing it down.

"An email from Professor Sycamore?"

Lucian leaned slightly toward Mike’s screen, noticed the image of a Mega Stone, and asked curiously.

"Yeah. I asked Professor Rowan to contact him about that newly discovered Mega Stone before, but I completely forgot to check the reply."

"What did you figure out?"

Lucian studied Mike.

For some reason, he had a strong feeling Mike already knew which Pokémon the stone belonged to.

Mike hesitated before shaking his head.

"I’m still not certain."

Steven had overheard enough of the conversation to become curious as well.

"Mr Mike, have you seen this Mega Stone before?"

"I don’t really know how to explain it. I might need to see the real thing before I can be certain."

"You could send Professor Sycamore a request to visit," Steven suggested with a smile. "If you do, we could travel to Kalos together."

"Kalos..."

Mike shook his head.

"I don’t have time to leave Sinnoh right now... but I’ll go eventually."

Steven nodded and didn’t press the issue.

Mike took another sip of tea and stroked the sleeping Hatenna in his lap before asking, "Mr Steven, I’ve heard that when you meet a Trainer you think highly of, you sometimes sponsor them with Mega Stones. Is that actually true?"

Back during the XY era, Steven had indeed been rather generous with Mega Stones.

Calling it "sponsorship" was almost polite; more often than not, he simply handed them over.

Steven laughed softly.

"They already possess the ability to master Mega Evolution. I merely give them a small push in the right direction."

’Spoken exactly like the heir to Devon Corporation.’

Even Manryo, sitting nearby, couldn’t help looking impressed.

There were clearly levels even among corporate heirs.

"If you ever need one, Mr Mike, I could give you a Mega Stone from my collection," Steven continued. "I have one for Beedrill."

Mike’s eyes widened.

A Beedrillite!

He blinked several times before answering, "I’ll let things happen naturally. A Mega Stone isn’t much use if I don’t even have a Key Stone."

Steven nodded.

"If you ever obtain a Key Stone, contact me. I’ll give you the Beedrillite."

He didn’t offer Mike a Key Stone as well.

Compared with ordinary Key Stones, the corresponding Mega Stones were far more difficult to obtain in the first place, and even Steven’s generosity had limits to what he casually handed away.

"You can just call me Mike, by the way. Lucian and the others do."

"Then call me Steven as well."

After that, their conversation drifted toward other subjects.

Mike looked down at Hatenna sleeping peacefully in his lap.

Glameow disliked staying near unfamiliar people, so whenever Mike sat around talking with a large group, she usually wandered off to find somewhere quiet to play or sleep.

At times like this, Mike belonged entirely to Hatenna.

She could curl up on his lap without anyone competing for the space.

Mike eventually looked around the courtyard.

"Are we really doing the evolution experiment here? Won’t we disturb the neighbors?"

"You don’t need to worry about that."

Cynthia entered through the gate as she answered.

"When we chose the location, we specifically selected somewhere quiet with unobstructed moonlight. This area was already unoccupied, so there’s nobody nearby for us to disturb."

"That explains it."

Because tonight was the full moon, everyone ate an early dinner and then settled in to wait for the moon to climb to its highest point.

Mike arranged all his cameras and equipped Gengar and the others with portable cameras so the entire evolution could be recorded from multiple angles.

In the courtyard, Professor Oak and Professor Rowan stood beside several Ursaring, gently combing through their heavy fur while explaining what would happen later.

The Ursaring already knew they would be attempting evolution again.

Ever since their first unsuccessful experiment, they had understood that this day would eventually come.

Everyone gathered at a safe distance around the courtyard.

Mike looked up.

The full moon hung high in the night sky like a polished jade disk.

For a brief moment, he thought he saw a shadow flash across its surface.

Then it was gone.

Mike lowered his gaze and nodded toward Professor Rowan and the others.

He stepped into the center of the courtyard, accepted several Poffins from Gengar, and fed them to the Ursaring.

"Ready?"

The Ursaring nodded and gave a low growl.

Mike took out a Peat Block and held it in his palm before offering it to the Ursaring at the front.

The Pokémon stared at the dark block.

Previously, the sight of Peat Block had produced no particular reaction at all.

Tonight, however, merely looking at it filled Ursaring with a strange excitement it couldn’t explain.

It extended one massive paw and gently closed it over Mike’s hand, holding both his palm and the Peat Block inside its grasp.

Everyone remained silent.

The other Ursaring watched.

Moonlight slowly spilled across the courtyard.

Seconds passed.

Then minutes.

The Ursaring felt the light bathing its body, and an extraordinary sense of comfort spread through it.

Almost unconsciously, it lifted its head and stared directly into the full moon overhead.

A roar tore from its throat.

"ROAAAR!"

Brilliant evolutionary light erupted across its body, rapidly swallowing its entire form.

Mike immediately backed away.

Steven’s blue eyes widened as he watched without blinking.

Professor Rowan and the other researchers clenched their fists, barely containing their excitement. Norman and Bertha were equally transfixed.

They were witnessing a piece of history with their own eyes.

The others had already seen enough impossible evolutions recently that they were beginning to develop the dangerous habit of treating history as routine.

This evolution took much longer than an ordinary one.

Inside the light, dormant energy awakened and surged violently through Ursaring’s body, reshaping bone, muscle, and flesh.

Deep growls repeatedly escaped it as pain swept through its changing body.

Eventually, the strain forced it forward until all four limbs struck the ground.

"Everything normal," one assistant reported while staring at the instruments.

"Ground-type energy detected," another added.

Once they confirmed there was no immediate threat to Ursaring’s life, Professor Rowan nodded.

Lucian snapped his fingers.

Bronzong and Wyrdeer appeared on opposite sides of the courtyard, Psychic energy bursting from their bodies and spreading into a protective barrier around the entire experimental site.

Steven released Metagross as well, adding its own Psychic power to reinforce the field.

Inside the barrier, Ursaring’s transformation accelerated.

Its body became heavier.

Broader.

Far more powerful.

Then, with another thunderous roar, the evolutionary light shattered.

A Pokémon unseen in the modern world stood in the center of the courtyard.

"Ursaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—!"

The first newly restored Ursaluna announced its return to the world!

----

Yes, mega beedrill is real!