#AGAIN THE COWORKERS/OTHER POKÉMON AREN’T MINE

[scrawliebout]

ALSO SHES BEEN POKÉMONED

various drawings of Aliora. dinosaur girl. the first image was supposed to be her reference image and then I gradually tweaked little bits of her design.

[aughtpunk]

The Evils of Truth and Love

Crowley had always been secretly glad his Bulbasaur had never wanted to evolve, if only because there was no way he could fit a Venusaur into the Bentley. Sure, his friends at the time (and his coworkers in the present) gave him a hard time for having a weak Pokémon. The way Crowley saw it is if Bulby was happy, then he was happy. That and it was always hilarious when he switched Bulby out for his Zoroark at the start of a battle. 

“Okay kid, what are the rules?”

“Mwwffh.” 

Crowley glanced over at the passenger seat, not too shocked to see that Warlock was playing on his phone instead of paying attention. He still wasn’t sure if getting him that phone was the best or the worst thing that’s happened in his years of Nanny-ing. Babysitting? Being paid to raise a kid because his parents got bored after they found out they had to change diapers? Crowley liked to think of himself as a Godparent. He had no idea what a Godparent actually did, but the title was pretty cool. 

One of Bulby’s vines shot out from the back seat and yanked Warlock’s phone right out of his hands. Warlock twisted in his seat, trying to grab his phone back only for Bulby to hold it right out of his reach. God, Crowley loved his little plant bastard. He cleared his throat and tried again. “The rules, kid. I need to hear them.”

Warlock let out the best preteen groan he could muster. “Don’t touch anything.”

“And?”

“Really, don’t touch anything.”

“And?”

“Don’t pick a fight with anyone who has Pokémon stronger than me ‘cause no one wants a repeat of what happened to Ligur at last year’s Halloween party.” Warlock said in a bored drone. Which was fake. Crowley knew Warlock loved that story with all of it’s gooey details. His favorite part was the sound Ligur’s shoulder made when the nurse popped it back into its socket. 

“Mmm-hmm. Last rule?”

“If anyone asks why I’m taking pictures I say they’re for my dumb Pokémon-crazy Nanny.” 

“Haha.” Crowley didn’t bother to tell Warlock to stop calling him that. He gave up fighting that nickname years ago. “Surprise bonus rule GO!”

“Seriously do not touch anything.” Warlock crossed his arms. “Can I have my phone back?”

Here it comes. The best part of being Warlock’s caretaker. Crowley tried to bite back a smile as he said, “I don’t know Warlock--”

“Oh no--”

“CAN you?”

Warlock threw back his head and let out the best guttural scream Crowley had heard since the last time he sprung that on the kid. “May I have my phone back? Please?”

“Dunno. What do you think Bulby?”

“Bububububub!” Bulby cackled as she dropped the phone back on Warlock’s lap. As far as Crowley knew she was the only Bulbsaur that could cackle. An impressive feat considering she only used soft bub sounds to do so. At least he had his Bulbasaur to co-parent raising the kid. God. That was a depressing thought. He’s going to need an extra drink tonight just to ease that self-blow.

After carefully illegally parking his Bentley at the perfect angle to ensure the cars in front and in back of him couldn’t get out, Crowley, Warlock, and Bulby stepped out in front of a building that looked far more like a library than a proper lab. Crowley fished out his own phone to double-check the address. “Yeah, this is the place.”

“Really?” Warlock made a face. “Looks dumb.”

“Bulba.” Bulbsaur said, agreeing. 

The three of them stared up at the building in silence together, the spell only broken when Crowley nudged Warlock in the side. “Now, what are we here for?”

Warlock rolled his eyes. “For my starter Pokémon ‘cause you won’t let me catch a wild one, even though I could totally do it--”

“Warlock--”

“Cause my Granddad would totally kill you, your Pokémon, and everything else you love and hold dear if I get hurt.” Warlock droned, already looking at his phone again.

“You know, most kids are excited to get their starter.”

Warlock shrugged. “Starters are dumb. They’re all like, soft baby Pokémon you have to use ‘til you can get a cool one. Like an Ekans!”

“You’re not getting an Ekans.” Crowley said for roughly the millionth time in his life. “And don’t let Bulby hear you call her a soft baby. She’ll never forgive you.”

“Buuuuuub.” Bulby threatened. 

“Ugh, fine. But I’m totally trading whatever I’m getting for something cooler.”

“Just stick to the plan, kid.” Warlock was going to that trip as annoying as he possible, wasn’t he? Well, Crowley thought, this couldn’t be worse than the day when he got his starter. Nothing like accidentally sleeping in late and running to the lab just to get your ass kicked by an eleven-year-old with a Charmander. 

With a shrug, Crowley walked in with Bulby and Warlock trailing behind. The inside was almost pitch-black, and had an odd musty smell Crowley couldn’t place. He could vaguely make out shelving and a few machines here or there, but nothing that screamed ‘lab’. Or occupied. Crowley walked over to a desk by the lab’s only window. Someone had left a still-steaming cup of coffee on top of what he was pretty sure looked like important paperwork. He pushed the cup ever-so-slightly aside to get a better look. 

--Unknown Pokémon, mysterious sightings, psychic Pokémon reporting headaches, doomsday cult, reports of Magikarp falling out of the sky--

“Hello! I’m sorry, I didn’t realize someone was here! Let me get the light!” 

A soft buzz filled the lab before the halogen lights above clicked on. They were old enough to have that odd second of weak-flickering light before it turned on properly. In that dim in-between Crowley caught sight of the man he assumed was the lab’s professor wreathed in a halo of light. He wasn’t sure what he was expecting, but it wasn’t this.

An angel, Crowley thought, a God damned angel. 

“Bub.” Bulby nudged Crowley’s arm with her vine. It didn’t seem to do anything. 

“Hello there!” The professor said as he walked over to Crowley. Oh no, oh no, he was even cuter up close. He was wearing a bowtie. A tartan bowtie. Between that and the blonde curls, Crowley was already long gone. 

“My name is Professor Fell, is there anything I can help you with?”

“Mwuaph.” Crowley answered, sounding a lot like Warlock. He tried again. “My uh, my Godson is here for his starter. Warlock. His name is Warlock and my name is Crowley.”

“Bub!”

“And this is Bulby.”

Professor Fell’s eyes lit right up as he caught sight of the Bulbasaur doing its best to look intimidating. “My heavens! Look at you! Aren’t you a beauty? Goodness, that leaf pattern! Is she from the Kanto region? Oh, and those markings on her feet! I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Bulbasaur this old! Not that there’s anything wrong with that, my dear, none of us are getting any younger are we? And in such good shape too! Your trainer must love you a lot!”

Bubly narrowed her eyes at Crowley and somehow put on a shit-eating grin. “Bububububub.”

“Oh no.” Crowley stepped between Bulby and the Professor. “Do not compliment her! She’s already full of herself as is! Bulby, you’re a terrible Pokémon and your leaves are covered in brown spots. Keep up the poor foliage and you’ll be on a one way trip to the garbage disposal.”

“Saur!”

“Goodness,” Professor Fell said with raised eyebrows, “I’ve never seen a Bulbasaur rudely gesture with their vines before, either.” 

“Hey, where are the Pokémon?”

Warlock’s voice was enough to remind Crowley that he was there to do more than gawk at the Professor. That, and his ward had a point. What he thought were shelves in the darkness were computer servers and he couldn’t see a single pokéball anywhere. No free roaming Pokémon either. Back in the day it was unheard of, but these days more and more people walked side-by-side with their companions. 

(At least the people who had reasonably sized ones did. Maybe Professor Fall was the type to have a Wailord as a companion? Or, Crowley thought, the Professor had recently visited Lavender Town, as it were.) 

“Hmm?” Professor Fell said, as if he too just only now remembered Warlock’s existence. “Oh! Yes, I do apologize. Normally I would have some pre-selected Pokémon set out, but, well, my own Godson turned eleven today, you see. He and his friends caused bit of a ruckus so I had to put all of the Pokémon back in The Garden to calm them down. Should be alright now. I think.”

“The Garden?” Both Crowley and Warlock asked, along with a “Bub?” from Bulby.

That was apparently The Right Question as Professor Fell’s eyes lit up. “A little experiment of mine!” He shoved his hand deep into his lab coat’s pocket and pulled out a pokéball with a tartan pattern on the top half. One that matched his bowtie. Crowley might have to lay down to recover from how cute this man was. “A new type of inter-connected storage space for Pokémon! Instead of them being individually stored in a ball this allows them interact with each other while not in active use! Although it is still very early in the project life I have already seen a dramatic increase in not only the well-being of each Pokémon but in friendlier moods as well! Why, just last week I found my Grimer and Jigglypuff playing with each other! Before The Garden they refused to be out of their balls at the same time! Not to mention it's a lot easier to carry one pokéball than six.”

Crowley looked from the pokéball, to the Professor’s glowing smile, back to the pokéball, quick stop at the bowtie, only to land on Professor Fell’s face. “Are you saying all of your Pokémon are in a single ball?”

“Not exactly. But also yes. Would you like to see?”

***

The Lab was far bigger than it looked on the outside. If Crowley hadn’t been preoccupied with Professor Fell he might have noticed that the lab was too big. Bulby had noticed, but her attempts to get her human’s attention off the soft sparkly man leading the way had been futile. She didn’t even know why she was bothering. The entire place could be on fire and he wouldn’t have noticed. Crowley’s crushes were annoying at worst and potentially dangerous at best. 

(Bulby was already dreading Warlock’s first crush. Though he and Crowley weren’t related by blood she just knew deep down he’d act the exact same way. Trying to play cool, fail at being cool, accidentally flood the Rock Gym while also somehow setting it on fire, rinse and repeat.)

Warlock at least had enough sense to keep his head down and his phone out. He didn’t notice the unusual size of the lab, but he was just a little bit sharper than Crowley to catch that something about the place was off. Shadows kept moving in the corner of his eye. He’d hear skittering behind him only to turn around and see nothing. But seeing he was an eleven year old boy (and thus too mature or cool to admit he was scared) Warlock kept his mouth shut instead of alerting the adults. In his defense neither man wouldn’t have been able to hear Warlock over the sound of their bad flirting anyway. 

“--all ‘cept his Magikarp!” 

“No!” Professor Fell replied.

“It’s true! Let them all go! I told him he was a nutter! You’re so damn close to beating the four so why stop now? You know what he did? He laughed at me! Told me not to worry about it.”

“What happened to the poor thing?”

“He won.”

“No!”

“God honest truth! He showed up a week later with a Gyarados and kicked all of their asses! Must have been a one-in-a-million chance of working and the bastard pulled it off. He’s still got his Pokémon Master certificate framed up in his office. The worst part is the League's done everything to forget that little bit of history. Thinks it’s embarrassing.”

“Well! I suppose that’s not a shock. The League is always a bit miffed with non-traditional winners. Remember all the nasty business with that Helix Cult a few years back?”

“Oh yeah. Think I still got my false prophet t-shirt somewhere.”

Professor Fell turned a corner, leading Crowley, Warlock and Bulby to a door with a single round hole in the middle. He smiled at the odd family before taking the tartan ball out of his pocket, popping it into the hole, and pushing the door open. The rush of fresh air slipping in through the doorway was enough to grab everyone’s attention, even Warlock’s. There, on the other side of the door, was a garden. The Garden.

Brilliant sunlight poured down into a small slice of paradise. Through the doorway Crowley could see a waterfall and pond nestled into the forest of strange trees he couldn’t recognize. Nothing on the other side of the door was familiar, yet his soul cried out in the beauty of it. Flowers, berries, music in the air, his brain could barely catch up with what he was seeing. He hadn’t realized he stepped forward until Professor Fell touched his arm to stop him. 

“Steady on, dear, it’s far too dangerous for humans. We’re not meant to go inside pokéballs for a reason.” 

Crowley’s head snapped in Professor Fell’s direction. “That’s what’s inside your pokéball? An entire bloody Safari Zone?!”

“Nonsense! The Safari Zone isn’t nearly as diverse as Eden!”

“Eden?” Warlock asked, looking up from his phone for the first time since they got there.

“The Edenball! It starts for Expanded Dimension Enclosed Nurturing technology!”

Warlock made a face. “Shouldn’t that be Edent?”

“Oh. Right.” The Professor’s smile faded. “Need to work on that last word I suppose. Edent sounds terrible.”

“Bubub.” Bulby agreed.

Professor Fell closed the door and plucked the tartan pokéball out from the hole. “Now, I do believe someone here needs their starter Pokémon?”

“Yes!” Warlock shouted as he pushed his way in front of Crowley. “Yes yes yes! I want something cool!” Like, wicked badass! Something that shoots fire, and is covered in spikes, and and spits poison and is smart enough to do my homework for me and, and--”

Professor Fell cut Warlock off by placing the tartan pokéball in his hand. He gave Warlock a little ‘go on’ nod and smiled. “Just press the button and think about what you truly want in a Pokémon starter.”

Warlock looked to Crowley, who shrugged, then to Bulby, who had stolen his phone and was currently taking a selfie. Considering he was currently surrounded by three adults Warlock felt oddly alone. He pressed the button on the front of the ball and weakly said, “I choose you? Cool Pokémon?”

The pokéball lit up in Warlock’s hands. 

The world held its breath. 

A trainer getting their first Pokémon is Important. Not only as a right of passage, but as a starting point for the long journey ahead. That first Pokémon sticks with you, in a way none of the others do. You could collect every Pokémon in the world-- from a pile of trash to the Gods themselves--but none of them will ever be as important as your starter. The Pokémon you looked at and said yes, yes this one is mine. Crowley had felt that way when he first saw Bulby in Professor Oak’s lab years ago. And at that moment Warlock felt the exact same way as light shot out from the ball and solidified in front of him. 

It was blue. Small. Kind of weak looking. And--

“Is it crying?” Crowley asked, finally breaking the silence. 

“A Sobble!” Professor Fell beamed, “A recently discovered water type! Be very careful, my dear boy, this one is only a few weeks old and might be a little fragile. Pick her, wait let me check, yes pick her up like this. Support her head. There we go!”

Crowley shifted uneasily as he watched Warlock stare down at the crying soft lizard-thing in his arms. His own eyes were beginning to water. Not for the first time he was glad about his always-wearing-dark-glasses habit. That being said he felt like Professor Fell was the type to not judge someone for crying at all. “Kid? You okay?” 

 Warlock lifted his head, his face already covered in tears, with the largest smile Crowley had ever seen on the boy in his entire life. “She’s perfect.”

***

The ride home was thankfully free of any Sobble-related crying. It had taken all four of them to calm the poor thing down. The Sobble had been snuggled up to Warlock’s chest ever since, refusing to move an inch away from her new trainer. Crowley couldn’t help but think back to his first day with Bulby. They had spent most of that first day in the Pokécenter curled up on the floor eating snacks and plotting revenge against that stupid Charmander-owning kid. At least Warlock and his Sobble had a home with a nice warm bed to eat their snacks in. 

“Think of a name yet?” Crowley asked, “one better than Bulby I hope?”

Bulby let out a grunt from the back seat. One that said hey, I like my name! My stupid, stupid name. 

“I was thinking of Sobby.”

Crowley winced. “I said better than Bulby. Better.”

“Sobby’s a good name!” Warlock lifted the Sobble up enough to look her in the eye. “What do you think, Sobby?”

“Sob!” Sobby said, the yellow fin on her head perking up. 

“See! She likes it!”

“No accounting for taste.” Crowley muttered as he parked the Bentley in front of their apartment building. “You got the pictures, right?”

Warlock shifted his arms enough to pull his phone out of his pocket and handed it over to Crowley. “Yup. Didn’t see any cameras. Maybe he’s dumb enough not to have any?”

“Or he’s smart enough to hide them.” Crowley said as he flicked through the pictures. He really needed to talk to Warlock about a future in photography. For a kid he took some dynamite pictures even if they were mostly of doors and ventilation shafts. “Tonight’s too soon. I’ll give it a few days--”

“We’ll give it a few days.”

Crowley lifted his head to meet Warlock’s stony gaze. “Kid--”

“Don't you kid me! You said I could team up with you once I got my first Pokémon!” Warlock said, a hairline crack spreading through his words. “You promised!” 

Crowley sighed. He wanted to respond ‘I meant when you got a useful Pokémon’, but the last thing he wanted to do was set Sobby and Warlock off. Deep down he didn’t want to drag the kid into this. Not because of the whole ‘if he gets hurt I’m dead’ thing, but because he honestly liked Warlock. Loved him like the weird nephew he’d always wanted. He had spent the past year hoping Warlock would want to run around the world chasing dangerous monsters like the other kids his age. Or somehow end up too much of a goody-goody to walk down Crowley’s path. But he knew he had been fooling himself. Warlock was born a snake, raised a snake, and was going to fall like the rest of them. And there was nothing Crowley could do to stop it. He looked back over at Warlock only to be greeted by tears pricking the corner of the kid’s eyes. 

Warlock’s family was going to kill him. 

Seeing Warlock get hurt was going to kill him. 

Yet Crowley knew he only had himself to blame. 

Never should have agreed to take care of Giovanni’s grandson.

“Fine.” Crowley said, forcing the worry out of his voice. “But only because this is going to be an easy heist. If everything goes pear-shaped you need to get the hell out of there, understand? And no touching anything! We’re just going there for the Edenball and nothing else!”

“Hell yeah!” Warlock said as he wiped the tears from his eyes. “One pokéball? That’s like, nothing! We totally got this! You, me, Bulby and Sobby! We’re going to be awesome!” He raised his hand up for a fist-bump. “Prepare for trouble?”

Crowley smiled and fist-bumped Warlock back. “And make it double.”

[sage-nebula]

The one good thing that came out of the Pokémon Direct is that I got to have a several hour long discussion about it with my coworker J, given that he returned from studying abroad just in time for us to be able to discuss Pokémon things again. (Sadly, my coworker K has left us to go work elsewhere, so he wasn’t able to participate (at work at least---we’re still friends outside of work) and never will be again. =( It’s okay, though. Farfetch’d still wasn’t thrown a bone, so I’m sure the Direct made him salty regardless.) During our conversation we talked about our opinions on mega evolution vs z-moves (as well as which mechanics will or won’t stick around in the transition from Gen VII to Gen VIII), and I pinned down a reason at the heart of why I infinitely prefer mega evolution over z-moves.

First, just to get it out of the way, it’s important to note that my feelings on these mechanics stem largely from a lore / personal perspective standpoint, in the sense that while I of course appreciate the gameplay aspects as well (and still prefer mega evolution even in that sense, because mega evolution requires far more strategy when building your team to include it than z-moves do), at the end of the day my strongest feelings are going to center around the lore / characterization aspect of it. Pokémon is a deeply personal series for me, and so I’m always going to approach it from that standpoint.

So with that said, part of why I vastly prefer mega evolution to z-moves is because they’re so much more personal. While both mega evolution and z-moves have some level of dependency on the bond between the human and trainer when it comes to their effectiveness and strength, mega evolution feels vastly more special and unique to me than z-moves do, for several reasons:

To begin with, as I touched upon above when discussing mechanics, there really isn’t any complexity to z-moves. There are a limited number of z-moves all dependent on type. While some pokémon have unique z-moves that only they can perform, for the vast majority of z-moves you have one or one move per type that literally any pokémon of that type can use so long as they also have a regular attack of that same type. So while only certain pokémon can mega evolve, you can literally just chuck a Grassium Z at a random gloom and say “okay, here you go.” Of course, the lore behind it says that you need to really work at and earn this, and the anime kind of pushes that as well by making a big deal out of where characters get their Z-Rings (e.g. Ash got his from Tapu Koko, and Kiawe from his grandfather), but as far as the games go I just tossed a Firium Z at my arcanine so that she could use a fire-type z-move. I mean, I’m glad I can at least give her something since she doesn’t have a mega evolution, but there’s no real thought behind that, you know? Unlike with mega evolution, where you have to really think about forming your pokémon’s moveset to also be compatible with (or even take advantage of) the mega evolved form, with z-moves it’s literally just another attack. You don’t have to put very much thought behind it. The most you have to consider is which one to use per battle, but that same thing is there with mega evolution, so it’s not really an added layer of complexity. It takes very little thought at all. And since it takes very little thought and doesn’t have very much complexity, it feels a lot less like something you would have to work at. With mega evolution, you train your pokémon so that they can be most effective when mega evolved (but also so they can handle themselves when not, if you’re that skilled of a trainer). Because of this, you can’t just toss a Mega Stone at them and call it a day. You have to take into account the possibility of a changed type, changed abilities, changed stats, et cetera, and with that you have to make sure their moveset is best suited to handle the change that come with mega evolution. You have to spend a lot more time with them, which increases the bond between you two even allowing for the lore which calls for it. Z-moves, due to the lack of complexity, simply don’t have that. I mean, sure, in theory you also have to practice that dance (more on that in a second), but as far as gameplay goes you just toss the Z-Crystal at the pokémon and call it a day. It doesn’t take a lot of forethought or planning and, as such, feels a lot less personal to me.

Each mega evolution is unique, since each pokémon has their very own, and outside of a few select instances (e.g. 10,000,000 Volt Thunderbolt) this simply isn’t the case for z-moves. Again, you have one move depending on type, and then that’s the end of it. So my arcanine can use the same z-move as, say, someone’s rapidash. Since z-moves are just new attacks, they’re not . . . special. But it’s different with mega evolution. Sure, you can have two Mega Kangaskhan on the field at once (Arceus save you), but while two Mega Kangaskhan may be able to pull off some of the same feats, the things that Mega Kangaskhan can do are still different than, say, the things that Mega Gyarados can do. It still feels more special and more unique because it’s specific to that species of pokémon. And yeah, I’m sure that creating a mega evolution for every single evolved pokémon is way beyond the scope of Game Freak’s capabilities, and in that sense some people might be sad that their fave still doesn’t have one (I know K would be thrilled to see Mega Farfetch’d), but that doesn’t mean they couldn’t have kept adding more mega evolutions as the generations go on. Where are our megas for the Johto starters, hm? Or the KALOS starters, since mega evolution originated in Gen VI? We could have had mega evolutions for the Sinnoh starters in the Sinnoh remakes, but since Game Freak seems to hate mega evolution now, it wouldn’t surprise me if we didn’t get it (and instead got special z-moves for them instead, whoop-di-doo). Instead of having a cool new form for each species, we instead just get generic moves outside of a few select instances. It feels a lot less personal and a lot more lame to me.

Building on that, the dance. The same exact dance is used for every move depending on the type, save (again) for a few special instances. What I mean by that is, whether you’re using Bloom Doom or using Grassium Z to power up a status move, you’re going to use the same grass-type dance each and every time, regardless of the base attack used to initiate Bloom Doom. And likewise, you’ll use the ghost-type dance for every ghost-type move, the fire-type dance for every fire-type move, and so on and so forth. It’s very standardized. Sure, you and your pokémon would have to practice it (well, mostly you; the anime has Pikachu participate, but in the games that is not the case), but it’s still the same one every time. Every trainer who uses a fire-type z-move is going to use the same dance, and the same goes for every other type. It’s very uniform. But mega evolution is something different. In both the games and the anime we see that people wear their Key Stones in all kinds of ways. The player characters usually get brace---I’m sorry, Mega Rings (and Alan had one as well), but we see other characters with pendants, wristbands, rings (like, actual rings you wear on your fingers), bookmarks, pocket watches, camera straps, pins---you name it, they wear it. And in addition to carrying their Key Stone however they wish, the anime takes things a step further by having each trainer use a special invocation that they come up with themselves in order to trigger the mega evolution. As a few examples: ALAN: “Key Stone, respond to my heart! Surpass evolution! Mega evolve!” STEVEN: “The sparkle of the stone shall be our bond! Mega evolve!” MALVA: “Blaze up, Houndoom! Mega evolve!” LYSANDRE: “My Gyarados, unleash your power and mega evolve!” And so on and so forth. Each trainer who uses mega evolution has their own invocation whenever they use it, which seems to hearken back to how they personally feel about mega evolution and the pokémon they are choosing to mega evolve. This is especially implied given the conversation between Lysandre and Alan on Prism Tower: LYSANDRE: “This power of mine is what mega evolution is all about. The power that blooms only during battles is, so to speak, a fighting instinct. An ability that was completely forgotten by the ordinary pokémon who are simply tamed by people. When a pokémon unleashes that fighting instinct, it gains a whole new power!” ALAN: “You’re wrong! Mega evolution is about---” LYSANDRE: “Only the winner can prove that, Alan.” What Lysandre says on Prism Tower is that he believes mega evolution is all about power, and fighting instinct. And his invocation reflects that; he flat out tells his gyarados to unleash its power to mega evolve. His invocation reflects his relationship with mega evolution. Meanwhile, while Alan doesn’t actually get to make his case because Lysandre cuts him off (and Alan does fall silent after that shut down, though he is glaring heatedly), we know exactly what Alan believes mega evolution is. Not only did Alan hypothesize that the power for mega evolution could come from people before he even left on his journey (though Sycamore told him that wasn’t the case, that it comes purely from the pokémon; as it turns out, they were both right and both wrong, as it’s a little bit of Column A and a little bit of Column B since it depends on the bond between human and pokémon in all cases that aren’t legendary), but in TSME 4 he reaches that conclusion---that mega evolution is dependent on the bond between human and pokémon. Specifically: ALAN: “I realized that [mega evolution] requires us trainers to have a great resolve as well.” Alan also talks repeatedly about the bond between him and Lizardon. In TSME 1 he says that: ALAN: “I want to be the strongest together with Lizardon. [. . .] The bond between us will overcome reason!” And in TSME 4: ALAN: “I’ve walked this path together with Lizardon. We’ve fought together . . . and aimed for the same destination together. I believe in him.” So it’s clear that to Alan, mega evolution is about the bond between human and pokémon---it’s about the bond between partners, a bond that “overcomes reason” (and one that Malva observes “surpasses its limits”). So it makes sense, then, that Alan’s invocation for mega evolution contains the words respond to my heart, because to him, mega evolution is about the bond between himself and Lizardon---it’s a power that they share and create together. Therefore, he has to have just as much resolve and determination in his own heart as Lizardon does, and he calls upon the power of mega evolution to respond to that. Alan’s invocation directly reflects his relationship with mega evolution, too. (And then you’ve got Steven, who also mentions a bond . . . but then also the sparkle of the stone. Oh, Steven.) And this---all of this---this is so much more personal, in my eyes, than the z-move dance. Each trainer comes up with their own invocation for mega evolution that reflects their beliefs and feelings toward it. It isn’t a standard, uniform thing that every trainer does; it’s something unique and personalized and special. And I love what each invocation says about the trainer using it, how you can tell so much about what they think, feel, and believe based on the invocation they use. Even with the deviations it has made, I don’t think the Alola anime can do that for z-moves---not when the z-move dances are right there in the actual games that the anime is designed to promote. (Whereas with the mega evolution invocations, the anime team had a lot more freedom.)

So yeah, ultimately, mega evolution is so much more special and personalized to me. It holds a deeper connection than z-moves do. And I’m still salty (and will probably forever be salty) that Game Freak decided to try and paint it in a negative light in order to push z-moves, as if that was in any way necessary. I swear to god, if they decide to give us even more terrible mega evolution ‘dex entries in the remakes---if they dare to tarnish ‘Zard X or ‘Zard Y---so help me, I’m gonna be livid. (And will then probably spam everyone with gifs of mega evolved Lizardon being cute and happy to counteract the sheer nonsense spread by the ‘dex entries, should they exist after the remakes come out. HMPH.)

But yeah, that conversation was one good thing that came out of the direct, I guess. Gave me something to think about, anyway.