A Study in Mega Evolution

Chapter Seven

Corina was back on her journey the next day, heading along route seven with Eda beside her, admiring the sparkling river flowing alongside them. The pair of them were heading to the Battle Chateau she'd heard so much about, so she was dressed nicer in a cute pink sundress since she heard you needed to dress up to participate.

She arrived at the building and admired how gorgeous it was. She'd only ever seen pictures of this place or heard about it from trainers passing through her father's café or the Professor's lab. Now she could finally be a part of this place herself.

Corina climbed the steps and pushed the doors open. "Hello, welcome to the Battle Chateau. Are you a new member?" A maid with light brown hair tied in a bun greeted her.

"Yes, I'm hoping to join. My name is Corina Larch."

"Of course, welcome to the Battle Chateau. Please, follow me while I show you around, and I'll explain the rules and customs of the Chateau."

The woman led her and Eda through extravagantly decorated hallways. "All of the trainers who join the Chateau are called 'knights.' Each knight has their own title, starting with baron or baroness, then viscount or viscountess, earl, and countess, marquis and marchioness, duke and duchess, then, finally, grand duke and grand duchess. You may earn the next title once you earn a certain amount of victories here at the Chateau." They finally reached a large pair of beautiful wooden doors at the end of the hallway. "Now, through here is the Battle Chateau sitting room, where you may meet other trainers and receive challenges." She opened the doors to reveal a grand yet cozy sitting room with large windows looking out on the veranda and a couple of battlefields below.

"Knights, I present our newest knight, Corina. Are there any barons or baronesses that are willing to give her her first battle here?"

A pair of white gloves dropped in front of Corina, and she looked over to see a person about her age wearing a blue suit and a glaceon next to them. "I'll challenge you." They smiled. "I'm Baroness Jan. It's nice to meet you, Corina. This is my partner, Connor." They gestured down to the glaceon. Connor's coat glistened, and Corina noticed the coloring was slightly different. She had seen a couple of shiny pokemon here and there, working with the Professor, so she knew a rare coloration when she saw one.

"This is my partner, Eda. It's nice to meet you, too."

The two walked out to a battlefield while other members stepped out to observe her first match. "Now, release your pokemon." The referee announced.

"Let's go, Connor!" The glaceon jumped out to the field.

Eda was about to step out when Corina stopped her. "Hold on, Eda, I wanna give one of our new companions a go." Corina reached into her bag and threw out a pokeball. "Go, Arbor!" The treeko was more than ecstatic to have a chance to battle and jumped around excitedly.

"Let the battle commence!"

"Let's start things off with leafage!"

"Counter with icy wind!" A chilling brush of ice and snow whisked all the leaves away.

"All right, get up close and use assurance!" He pushed through the icy wind and slapped the glaceon with his tail. Connor was sent flying back but soon regained his ground.

"Connor! Use bite!" Conner clamped his teeth into Arbor.

"Giga drain!" Arbor took advantage of Connor being in such close range and drained a fair amount of his energy.

"Hold on, Connor!" The glaceon only bit down harder, and Arbor wailed.

"Arbor!"

"Treeeee!" Arbor suddenly started glowing brightly. He started growing over a foot, his face became longer and narrower, and he grew long leaves out of his head and arms. Corina smiled brightly as the glowing finally stopped. "Grooooovyle!"

"You evolved! Nice job, Arbor! Now! Finish them off with one last leafage!"

A leaf storm came at them, and when the field cleared, Connor had fainted.

"Connor is unable to battle! Corina and her pokemon, Arbor, are the winners!"

Arbor looked back at her, a smile wide on his face. He was obviously very proud of himself. Corina rushed onto the field and gave Arbor a quick hug. "You won, Arbor!"

"Grooovyle! Gro!" He smiled back at her, then looked over at Eda. He plucked a pretty-looking weed from the ground and handed it to her with a sly smile on his face.

Eda looked him up and down for a moment, then crossed her arms and looked away. Corina chuckled but looked up as Jan approached her.

"That was a great battle, Corina. You and Arbor sure are strong."

"Thanks, Jan! You and Connor are powerful, too."

"Why don't we head on over to Camphreir Town and heal up our pokemon together?" Corina suggested, putting Arbor back in his pokeball.

"Sure! That sounds nice." Jan smiled, and they left the Battle Chateau together.

"So, you're from Lumiose City?" Jan asked as they sat in the lounge at the Pokemon Center together. They were enjoying each other's company while they waited for Connor to be all healed up.

"That's right. I only just started my journey earlier this year." Corina nodded, looking over at Arbor trying to flirt with a female kirlia off to the side, showing off his new evolution.

"Why'd you wait so long? Don't most kids in Kalos start at ten years old like everyone else?"

"Well, yeah, but my Dad never gave me permission to leave."

"Oh geez. Well, it's good he's finally let you go out."

Corina laughed bashfully and rubbed her wrist. "Well, I never really got permission. I just left one morning with a note."

"So, wait, you just ran away from home?" Jan chuckled.

"Yeah, pretty much."

Jan laughed. "Well, look at you! How cool! You took action into your own hands."

"I suppose so!"

"Well, what about your mom? Did she ever say anything?"

Corina bit pursed her lips. "I never really knew my mom. She and my dad divorced when I was still a baby, and I haven't really heard much about her since." Corina never really liked talking much about her mother.

"Oh, I'm sorry, I had no idea."

"No, it's no biggie." Corina put on a smile and waved it off.

Jan was about to say something else when Nurse Joy walked over. "Jan? Connor is all healed up." She smiled, and Connor walked up to Jan. They stood up.

"Well, I should get going. I've gotta get over to Professor Sycamore's Summer Camp before it starts up this week."

"Summer camp? Isn't there an age limit on that sort of thing?"

Corina chuckled. "No, I'm working there. I'm an assistant at his lab with Sycamore and his son, Leon."

"Ahh, I see. Well, I'll see you around, then?"

"Right. I'll see you, Jan." They exchanged numbers and left the pokemon center, heading their own ways.