"Ka-kah?"
Gastly circled around the Mega Stone in Johan's hand, curiosity all over its face.
A Mega Stone?
What was that?
"If I'm not mistaken, this should be your Mega Stone," Johan muttered softly as he ran his fingers over the smooth surface of the orb.
"Ka-kah?"
Mine?
Gastly blinked in confusion.
So, what is this thing?
"It's a Mega Stone," Johan smiled, seeing Gastly's bewildered expression, and began to explain.
As most people know, most Pokémon, aside from a few exceptions, can evolve once or twice.
Take Gastly, for example—it evolves into Haunter after its first evolution, and then into Gengar after its second. Gengar is its final evolutionary form. After that, no matter how much its strength or level increases, its appearance won't change much.
However, if a Gengar holds a "Gengarite," a Mega Stone specifically for Gengar, and the Trainer possesses a Keystone and has a strong enough bond with their Gengar, it can undergo a process known as "Mega Evolution," transforming into Mega Gengar!
That's the power of a Mega Stone.
"Ka-kah…"
Mega Gengar?
Gastly swallowed hard, its eyes gleaming with excitement.
Even the name sounds super strong!
Mega—how cool is that?!
"First, you'll need to evolve into Gengar," Johan interrupted Gastly's daydreaming with a bucket of cold water.
"Ka-kah!"
But Gastly wasn't discouraged; it nodded with serious determination.
It looked like it was ready to train hard!
Seeing this, Johan chuckled, surprised that the Mega Stone could have such a motivational effect.
During regular training, while Gastly didn't exactly slack off, it did have a mischievous and cunning nature. If Johan wasn't keeping a close eye on it, Gastly would always find ways to laze around. Johan had never really figured out how to deal with that.
But now, with the temptation of the Mega Stone and the allure of Mega Gengar, Gastly might finally start taking its training more seriously.
However, while Gastly was daydreaming about its future, Johan's thoughts went a bit deeper.
Why had the Mega Stone ended up in Professor Cozmo's hands? And why was Greater Mauville Holdings so eager to get their hands on it?
There are two theories about how Mega Stones came to be.
The first is that some special stones, like Fire Stones or Water Stones, were exposed to the energy of the Ultimate Weapon, a device powered by Xerneas and Yveltal, roughly 3,000 years ago. This caused many Mega Stones to scatter across the Kalos region.
The second theory is that a massive meteorite struck the Hoenn region over 1,000 years ago, creating the modern-day Sootopolis City. Encased within the meteorite was a giant Key Stone, and the Mega Stones and Key Stones scattered throughout Hoenn are fragments of that meteor.
So, finding a Mega Stone in Hoenn isn't all that surprising.
But the problem remains—why would an energy company like Greater Mauville Holdings be after a Mega Stone?
And how did they even know Professor Cozmo had one?
Unless Johan figures out the answers to these two questions, even though he'd fended off Daiki, as long as he held onto this Gengarite, he was likely to be targeted again.
"Wait a minute."
Johan pulled out his computer.
He started digging into the histories of Devon Corporation and Greater Mauville Holdings.
Before long, thanks to his understanding of the Pokémon world, he found a crucial connection—∞ Energy!
Also known as "living energy," this was an idea proposed by the grandfather of the current Devon Corporation president. It was inspired by the Ultimate Weapon from 3,000 years ago and had taken generations of work to perfect.
Devon Corporation, originally a manufacturing company, developed the technology to convert life energy into ∞ Energy. Combined with some internal issues at Greater Mauville Holdings, this led to the energy company's eventual bankruptcy.
This same energy also helped Devon Corporation become the giant it is today, rivaling even the Silph Co. in Kanto.
Given the origins of Mega Stones, which trace back to the Ultimate Weapon, it's likely that they too are a form of "living energy" or ∞ Energy. That would explain why Greater Mauville Holdings is so keen on acquiring Mega Stones—they're after ∞ Energy.
With this theory, many things start to make sense.
After reading up on this information, Johan leaned back in his chair, rubbing his chin in thought.
Now that he had a better understanding of the situation, he had a few ideas on how to deal with this problem once and for all, but he'd need to plan carefully.
Fortunately, after dealing with Daiki, the remnants of Greater Mauville Holdings likely wouldn't come after him again anytime soon.
That gave him some breathing room.
"Gastly, let's continue working on your Hypnosis technique," Johan called out.
"Ka-kah—"
To his surprise, Gastly's voice came from the kitchen.
Accompanied by the smell of gas, a slightly puffier-looking Gastly floated over to him, grinning sheepishly.
It was only three seconds… just three seconds over!
The two stared at each other for a few moments.
"Hiccup—"
Johan: "..."
The next day.
Dressed in a more formal outfit, Johan stepped out of the house with Gastly in tow.
Today, he had a Pokémon psychology class to teach.
With autumn setting in, the weather in Rustboro City had cooled significantly, especially after the rainstorm the day before, which had brought a welcome relief from the lingering heat. Even wearing a shirt, vest, and fitted blazer, Johan didn't feel too warm.
Since his class was second period, Johan spent some time relaxing in his office before it began. While he prepared coffee and reviewed his lesson plans, Gastly watched videos on the computer.
Lately, Gastly had been glued to Johan's laptop, watching videos, and surprisingly, it had picked up a few useful tricks from them.
When the bell rang to signal the end of first period, Johan packed up and headed to the classroom with Gastly.
Pokémon psychology was a rather niche elective, which was evident from the fact that even though classes had been in session for days, this was Johan's first lecture. As a result, he didn't need a large lecture hall but instead taught in a small, tucked-away classroom on the second floor.
However, just as Johan reached the bottom of the stairs, he ran into a tall, black-haired female teacher.
"Heading to class, Mr. Johan?" The woman, dressed in a light blue dress, greeted him warmly, though her smile seemed a little distant.
"Yes, I didn't expect you to remember me, Ms. Shelly," Johan replied.
"You're too modest, Mr. Johan. We weren't seated too far apart during the last faculty meeting. But I'll let you get to your class. We can catch up later."
"Sure."
As Johan walked past Shelly, he suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, a coldness that seemed to pierce his very bones.
Shelly... from Team Aqua!
She was one of Team Aqua's top admins!
If Johan hadn't run into her today, he might not have remembered that among the hundreds of teachers at Rustboro Pokémon Academy, there was someone like her!
He took a deep breath and continued up the stairs, not breaking his pace. Right now, Team Aqua was still lying low, and Steven hadn't become the Champion yet. There was still some time before the infamous "Sea and Land Conflict" between Team Aqua and Team Magma would erupt. For now, Shelly was just a "regular" teacher of marine airflow science.
As long as Johan didn't provoke her, there wouldn't be any problems.
He wasn't even sure if Shelly had already taken up her role as a Team Aqua admin.
On the surface, they were both just small, insignificant teachers at this prestigious academy—a status that was impressive to ordinary people, but barely registered to the truly powerful Pokémon Trainers.
That cold, distant smile? Great! The further away she stayed, the better. In fact, he hoped he'd never see her again.
"Ka-kah."
Gastly peeked out from behind Johan's coat, narrowing its eyes as it watched Shelly walk away.
Who does she think she's looking down on?
It licked its lips mischievously.
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Powerstones?