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“Misty…!” Tracey sighed as the Cerulean Gym Leader hurried into Oak’s lab. “I’m glad you could make it.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Tracey,” she said. “You said that one of Ash’s Pokémon was in trouble—of course I’d come and help! Who is it?”
“Heracross,” Professor Oak said. “We had noticed prowlers near the fence this past week, and, last night, they broke through the fence and came for Heracross. But Heracross wasn’t going to go down without a fight.”
Misty nodded; indeed, Brock had once joked that Ash’s stubbornness had rubbed off on his Pokémon, but it wasn’t entirely an exaggeration.
“Heracross also didn’t want any of the other Pokémon getting caught in the crossfire,” Tracey said. “He realized the intruders were after him, and so he fled the lab, hoping to lure them away—and it seems to have worked, but he never came back.”
Bulbasaur, Bayleef, Cyndaquil, Totodile, and Noctowl all spoke up now, clearly concerned and angry.
“Heracross was a companion that they fought alongside,” Oak noted. “They aren’t about to abandon him now.”
“Do we have an idea of where they might have gone?” Misty asked.
“No one in town has seen them,” Tracey said. “That means they headed up Route 1 towards Viridian City.”
“I need to two of you to search Route 1 for them,” Oak instructed. He looked troubled. “And I need to inform Ash of what has happened.”
Misty bit her lip; Ash cared about each and every Pokémon of his without exception—it would take all of Brock’s ability of keeping him grounded to prevent him from speeding back all the way from Hoenn to find his missing Heracross.
“Hopefully, we’ll be back with good news,” Misty said.
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She and Tracey had headed out, quickly realizing that they could cover more ground if they split up; Tracey took the main path with Bayleef and Cyndaquil, while Misty took the riverside with Bulbasaur and Totodile. Noctowl searched from the skies, and was soon joined by Ash’s Pidgeot that he had released shortly after the Indigo League; Pidgeot had observed the goings-on and, recognizing Misty and Bulbasaur, had quickly put together a picture of what had happened, also determined to help his old friend.
It had been Misty’s party who had found them—Heracross, still under attack from two trainers, one with a Pinsir and one with a Beedrill… But, something about them seemed different—they didn’t look like they normally did; the Pinsir now had wings and was flying, and the Beedrill now had an extra pair of stingers on its legs, and they both seemed to glow with an odd aura.
The battle was being observed by a man in glasses and a long coat, who threw an odd stone at Heracross.
“If you want to stand a chance against them, you’ll take that stone and reach your true potential,” the man said.
Heracross shook his head, struggling to stand.
“Stubborn fool,” the man muttered. He turned to the two trainers. “Continue—this one needs more persuasion.”
“This has gone far enough!” Misty snarled. She ran to Heracross’s side, not even caring that she was in such close proximity to a bug Pokémon (and staring down two others). Totodile and Bulbasaur also stood in front of them, angrily glaring at the two attackers. “This Heracross belongs to a friend of mine, and I won’t let you hurt him anymore!”
She summoned her Gyarados from his Pokéball to further drive the point home, but, to her surprise, the man stared at Gyarados in interest.
“A fine specimen you have there, Miss,” he said. “But I’m afraid you’re mistaken—we’re not trying to hurt Heracross; we’re trying to help it reach its true potential. And we will gladly do the same for your Gyarados.”
He tossed another odd stone at Gyarados, but Misty grabbed it before it could hit him, glaring daggers at the man.
“You seem to think I mean these Pokémon harm,” he tutted. “Look at this Pinsir and this Beedrill—do you not see the power they have achieved? This is a powerful state of temporary evolution they have achieved by coming into contact with that Awakening Emera.” He indicated the stone in Misty’s hand. “The Awakening Emera only affects certain Pokémon; it needs to undergo testing to see if it can be distributed to make this temporary state of evolution commonplace.”
“Well, you’re not experimenting on my Gyarados or my friend’s Heracross,” Misty snapped.
Noctowl and Pidgeot, having found them, suddenly trilled; the man looked up at Pidgeot now with a similar look in his eyes, but any plans he’d had for him were immediately derailed by Pidgeot’s reinforcements—his entire flock of Pidgey and Pidgeotto—arriving and ready to fight. Tracey and his party, who had followed them, quickly arrived to provide additional backup.
The man and his flunkies—and their powered-up Pokémon—chose to make their retreat.
“You’ve made your position clear; it isn’t worth the trouble to raid the lab,” the man said. “However, I still say it is your loss.”
Misty exchanged a baffled glance with Tracey, and the two of them discussed everything as they helped bring Heracross back to the lab to use the professor’s healing device to help him.
Ash, who had been still on the phone with the professor, was relieved to see that his Heracross had been found, as well as enraged by the story as Misty relayed it to him and the professor.
“I’ve heard something about this odd state of temporary evolution—this research comes from a colleague of mine in Kalos—Professor Sycamore,” Oak mused. “These people you came across must have heard about this research and tried to take things into their own hands.” He brought up a picture of Sycamore and a PDF of his latest paper on the subject. “Those Awakening Emeras that were mentioned seem to work, but they unleash an angered rage in the Pokémon that are affected by this temporary change. But Professor Sycamore believes that there is another way for affected Pokémon to achieve this state through a more humane means—through a different stone that harness the strength of the bond between trainer and Pokémon.”
“And my Heracross can do that?” Ash wondered.
“And my Gyarados?” Misty added.
“Well, the research is still in its elementary stages,” Oak said. “Besides, I think Heracross has had enough of this for quite a while.”
Heracross responded in the affirmative, and Ash sighed and nodded.
“Yeah, no kidding—I’m just glad he’s alright,” he said. “And it’s all thanks to you, Misty. You’re the best.”
Misty gave Ash a sympathetic smile before striking her usual stance.
“And don’t you forget it,” she teased.
Brock now chimed in with a recipe for a berry blend that would help speed up Heracross’s recover even more quickly, and they all knew that, soon, this would be behind them.
…Though the questions they had would surely remain for a long time to come.