Pokémon: Chronicles of Freedom

After obtaining the Mega Stone he was looking for—although the process had been a bit frustrating—the result was quite satisfying.

This stone should be Blaziken's Mega Stone.

However, it couldn't be confirmed with one hundred percent certainty.

But as long as it was a Mega Stone, it was already a great gain.

After leaving Meyer's electronics store, he headed directly west of Lumiose City.

His objective in this city had been quickly completed, so it was time to focus on his next destination.

Shalour City.

Moreover, there were some things he could do on the way to Shalour City.

On this trip to Lumiose City, Cain had brought his Pokémon: Pupitar, Lairon, Combusken, Politoed, Ralts, Mismagius, and Slowking. Of course, Flygon—who was temporarily serving as an airborne mount—was not counted among his battle Pokémon.

Normally, when traveling, he had to carefully consider which Pokémon to bring along, but now that was no longer necessary.

Although Meyer had a somewhat peculiar way of thinking, his creations were flawless.

Now, as long as Cain was in the Pokémon world and his system could stay in contact with Porygon2, he could retrieve any Pokémon from his island at any time.

Owning an island in the Pokémon world definitely had its advantages.

As for the standalone signal receiver Meyer had mentioned, with the system, that accessory was unnecessary.

To test it, Cain called out Carbink.

Now that he had arrived in the Kalos region—the place of origin of Carbink—perhaps that would help accelerate its evolution.

It had been quite some time since he caught Carbink, but its evolution had been slow.

Since Kalos is the birthplace of Fairy-type Pokémon, perhaps the environment would help with its development.

As he walked, Cain carried Ralts in his arms.

On this expedition, apart from Slowking—who was about to reach elite level—the rest of the Pokémon were still young.

In Kalos, there were many places suitable for training and strengthening them.

Moreover, Cain already had the quality-boosting potions ready, so it was the perfect time to help them evolve.

His first team was already on its way to reaching the elite level, so his second team needed to at least begin reaching the quasi-elite level.

For now, the only one that almost met that requirement was Swampert.

On the other hand, Combusken had already been in its current stage for a long time. He hadn't been able to evolve it earlier because he didn't yet have the required quality-enhancing potion, but now he not only had everything he needed, he had also obtained the Mega Stone.

Once Combusken evolved into Blaziken, its path to power would be completely clear.

As a trainer, Cain had already prepared everything for Blaziken's future.

Upon leaving Lumiose City and entering a remote part of Route 13, Cain called out Combusken to test the Mega Stone he had just obtained.

As expected, it was Blaziken's Mega Stone—the Blazikenite—the same one that would belong to Meyer's Blaziken in the future.

He didn't know how Meyer would manage without it in the future, but for Cain, it was an extremely valuable acquisition.

With Combusken at level 32, it was about to evolve.

After confirming the authenticity of the Mega Stone, Cain also called out Lairon and Pupitar.

Although Route 13 had beautiful Coumarine City to the left and the bustling Lumiose City to the right, this path was known as the Lumiose Badlands.

Here, the land was arid, the wind blew reddish sand mixed with dust.

It was an ideal terrain for Rock and Ground-type Pokémon, making it a perfect environment for Pupitar and Lairon.

Combusken wasn't too comfortable in this kind of landscape, but it wasn't too problematic either.

With the Smooth Rock embedded with the Tyranitarite in its possession, Pupitar had even greater control over the sand.

Since its birth as a Larvitar, it had always shown great skill in manipulating Ground and Rock-type energies. After its exposure to Groudon's energy, its control over Ground-type energy had intensified even more, which in turn strengthened its mastery over Rock-type energy.

Now, with the Smooth Rock, it could prevent the wind from blowing sand toward them, protecting the team.

With Lairon's help, Cain didn't even need protective goggles; he could walk unhindered through the largest desert in Kalos.

Instead of following the paths designated by the Pokémon League, he decided to venture directly into the heart of the desert.

The wild Pokémon near the main path weren't strong enough to provide meaningful combat experience.

Since Ralts had entered her growth stage, Cain had begun to train her.

Although she hadn't participated in a real battle yet, she was no longer a newborn.

Compared to other Pokémon, her situation was privileged, as Cain had never forced her to fight because he didn't urgently need more combatants. As a result, Ralts had enjoyed a prolonged and peaceful childhood.

But now that she was in her growth stage, she had to start battling.

Fortunately, she had learned psychic training exercises from Slowking on the island, which had allowed her to reach level 10 without needing to fight directly.

Although she couldn't contribute much to the battles of Combusken and the others, for her, each battle was safe. She just had to stay close to Cain and launch long-range attacks without any worries.

That's how she began to understand her master Slowking's battle style.

Although unlike Slowking—who sometimes engaged in physical combat—Ralts remained completely in the rear.

As they ventured deeper into the desert, encounters with wild Pokémon became more frequent. However, since they were still at the entrance of the desert, most weren't very high-level, serving merely as a warm-up for Combusken and the others.

In a place like this, if you didn't carry a compass, it was very easy to get lost.

Suddenly, Pupitar and Lairon cried out in unison.

Cain frowned and saw a whirlwind of red sand rapidly approaching.

It was one of the peculiarities of the Lumiose Badlands: some Pokémon used these whirlwinds to stealthily approach their prey and launch surprise attacks.

Someone unfamiliar with the area could be easily ambushed.

But this enemy had chosen the wrong target.

Pupitar and Lairon had already detected it from afar.

The only thing left to see was which Pokémon was hiding behind the sandstorm.

(End of chapter)