With a single thought, Mega Gardevoir unleashed an overwhelming surge of Fairy-type energy.
Even in broad daylight, a semi-transparent moon could vaguely be seen forming within the flowing Fairy energy.
BOOM!
The enormous boulder that had stood beside Celebi's Life Lake for who knows how many years—three to four meters tall—exploded instantly.
"Bi!"
Celebi vanished in a flash and reappeared beside Oliver, smacking him on the head.
If you want to test move power, go do it outside! Why are you testing it in my home?!
Oliver hurriedly apologized and immediately had Mega Gardevoir use Psychic to gather the scattered debris.
With a gentle wave of its hand, countless fragments of stone floated into the air, then neatly piled themselves beneath a large tree.
Seeing this, Milotic and Garchomp both grew serious again.
This wasn't just about destructive power anymore—
it showed extremely fine and precise Psychic control.
But in the very next moment, white light erupted from Mega Gardevoir once more.
As the glow faded, it reverted to its original form.
"Garde…?"
Gardevoir looked down at its hands in confusion, a wave of exhaustion washing over its body.
"So fast?" Oliver murmured.
"It must be because you're not familiar with it yet. The Mega Evolution duration is still too short."
Oliver replayed the recorded footage again and again, then pulled up all the data collected by the research instruments.
According to the video, Gardevoir had maintained Mega Evolution for only one minute.
That wasn't a real problem.
With repeated Mega Evolution training, it would gradually become more proficient, and the duration would naturally increase.
At the same time, the energy-monitoring devices showed that the energy used for Mega Evolution came from the life energy inside the Mega Stone.
This first transformation had been triggered by Oliver actively using his special abilities to guide the Key Stone and stimulate the Mega Stone.
But—
Forget this world's humans—even in the Pokémon anime world, not everyone possessed special powers like Oliver's.
That meant the true method of Mega Evolution couldn't rely on such abilities.
For ordinary people, Mega Evolution must occur through emotional resonance—
the bond between Trainer and Pokémon drawing forth their feelings, which in turn caused the Key Stone and Mega Stone to resonate with each other.
The difference was clear:
Oliver's method: Trainer-dominated Mega Evolution
Normal method: Trainer and Pokémon responding to each other's hearts together
In truth, Oliver and Gardevoir could use the second method.
But Mega Evolution had never existed in this world before.
Gardevoir had no concept of it and had no idea how to draw out the Mega Stone's life energy.
That was why Oliver had taken the initiative—to help Gardevoir complete its first-ever Mega Evolution.
Now that it had experienced it once, Gardevoir would naturally be able to awaken that hidden power on its own.
After eating several Energy Cubes, Gardevoir quickly recovered.
Oliver immediately began the second Mega Evolution experiment.
Just as expected—
This time, Oliver didn't use any special abilities.
Relying purely on the emotional bond between itself and Oliver, Gardevoir effortlessly linked the Mega Stone and Key Stone, successfully completing a Mega Evolution that any ordinary Trainer could achieve.
And because of its increased familiarity, the duration increased by ten seconds.
For now, Mega Evolution could only last a little over a minute—
But that minute was terrifying.
Crossing an entire major power tier was no small matter.
Mega Gardevoir could defeat its normal self in just a few moves.
And as training continued, the duration would only keep increasing.
Seeing that Gardevoir could only maintain this mysterious form for about a minute, Milotic finally relaxed.
It seemed her position as the team's strongest still stood—for now.
Garchomp, however, let out a pitiful growl toward Oliver.
"Don't worry," Oliver reassured him with a smile.
"You'll be able to Mega Evolve too—but only after you reach your final evolution."
Garchomp immediately puffed out his chest and vowed silently to train even harder, determined to evolve as soon as possible.
Oliver carefully saved all the experimental data from the instruments.
These records would be crucial evidence when he eventually published his Mega Evolution research.
And he knew better than anyone—
He was far from fully understanding Mega Evolution yet.
This data would help him uncover even more secrets about it.
Just as Oliver was preparing to leave the Secret Realm, Celebi hesitated for a long moment before suddenly calling out to him.
"Bi~ Lately, I've sensed a strange energy fluctuation on you…
It's not the same attribute as the power I gave you before."
Celebi was clearly referring to Aura Power (Wave Guidance).
And the Pokémon most closely associated with Aura Power—
Was Mew.
Mew, much like Celebi granting blessings, could help humans or Pokémon awaken Aura Power.
Seeing Celebi fidget awkwardly, Oliver immediately understood.
It was… jealous.
After all, Celebi had been the one to grant him power first—
so why did another unfamiliar energy suddenly appear on him?
No wonder it had gotten angry over something as small as a broken rock earlier.
"You mean this?" Oliver laughed awkwardly.
"I don't really know either. It just awakened on its own a few days ago."
Aura Power was a mysterious form of spiritual energy.
All things in the world possessed Aura—
yet neither humans nor Pokémon could normally perceive it.
Only those who awakened Aura Power could sense, control, and use it.
Since anyone could theoretically awaken Aura Power, Celebi could only accept Oliver's explanation.
After all, meeting Mew wasn't something that happened casually.
So it must be luck, Celebi decided.
As expected of the human I chose.
After leaving the Secret Realm, Oliver couldn't help but smile wryly.
He never expected Celebi to sulk over something like this.
It really was like a child.
Looks like I'll need to pamper it a bit more in the future, he thought.
When Oliver returned home, he immediately noticed a package sitting on the table.
Judging by the address—
It had been sent directly from League Headquarters.
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