Venusaur's life-manipulation ability could have a huge effect, whether in battle or in everyday life. This greenhouse was just full of ordinary plants, and with Venusaur's abilities, making them grow was as easy as pie. Those precious fruit trees and hard-to-grow green plants might be a little more troublesome, but only slightly.
For Venusaur, as long as it was about making plants grow, it wasn't a big problem.
Now, the environment in Oak's research lab's backyard had completely changed. With Venusaur around, Professor Oak didn't need to deal with the backyard environment at all, saving him a lot of time.
Moreover, there were countless fruit trees in the backyard, even some extremely rare ones. Those plants could only survive in extremely harsh conditions, but with Venusaur's help, they could thrive even in the backyard.
Currently, Oak's research lab's backyard was inseparable from Venusaur. If Venusaur left for two or three days, the backyard was probably in complete disarray. There were so many plants growing back there that Professor Oak simply couldn't attend to every one.
Some plants had specific survival conditions, and only Venusaur could keep them thriving. If Venusaur was away too long, those harder-to-grow plants would likely wither and die.
Venusaur had now become the grand steward of the backyard. Both the plants and the other Pokémon out there obeyed his commands. On top of that, the growth of the plants in the backyard greatly boosted Venusaur's strength, which was why Venusaur took care of so many things.
Venusaur's power increase wasn't as slow as many of the other Pokémon on Ash's team. In fact, it was even faster. This was the most suitable way for Venusaur to improve his strength.
After resolving the greenhouse issue, the group said goodbye to Bugsy and headed toward Mr. Kurt's place.
Along the way, Ash conveniently teleported Venusaur back. He didn't keep Venusaur on his active team anymore. The last time he'd tried to keep Venusaur with him for a week, Venusaur's power growth had slowed compared to being at Oak's lab, and the lab's backyard had gone to complete chaos. Professor Oak had frantically been urging Ash to teleport Venusaur back, leaving Ash at a loss. Since then, Ash rarely brought Venusaur along when rotating Pokémon, except for battles.
Before long, they arrived at Mr. Kurt's residence. It was an ordinary, unremarkable wooden house. As the founder of the Poké Ball craft, his low-key lifestyle in this kind of place was quite remarkable.
Ash knocked on the wooden door, and a little girl who looked only seven or eight years old opened it. This child was Mr. Kurt's granddaughter, Maizie. Mr. Kurt was still crafting Poké Balls, and Maizie invited them to sit in the main hall for a while, even pouring them small cups of tea. The room was simple on the outside and equally simple on the inside, showing that Mr. Kurt truly didn't care about fame or fortune.
After sitting down, Ash indicated he wanted to rest for a while. He closed his eyes, pretending to relax, but in reality, his mind was already immersed in the Chat Group.
Awakened Ash: Seniors, do you know about a second Mega Evolution for Lucario?
Regarding Lucario's other Mega Stone, Ash had thought for a long time but couldn't figure it out. After some deliberation, he'd decided to seek help from the group. In other parallel worlds, perhaps other Mega Evolution forms of Lucario had appeared. Who knew?
Aura Hero Ash: Another Mega form? Never heard of it. Lucario should only have one Mega Evolution.
Trainer Ash: That's right. We've had Mega Evolution here for almost ten years, and I've never heard of Lucario having two Mega forms.
Fighter Ash: Never heard of it either.
Ash's single sentence sparked a lot of discussion in the usually quiet Chat Group, because the idea of a second Mega Evolution for Lucario was simply unheard of.
Since Ash was raising the question, it proved that Ash had encountered a second Lucario Mega, or at least had reason to believe one existed. Otherwise, why would he be asking?
But Ash's question this time also touched on a blind spot in their knowledge. They were completely unaware of a second Lucario Mega form.
Champion Ash: I know.
Awakened Ash: Really?
Ash had already given up hope, since he hadn't heard of a second Mega form of Lucario across so many parallel worlds. This thing was likely similar to Pikachu's partner form, unique to his own world. Unexpectedly, Champion Ash said he knew.
Champion Ash: Actually, I only recently discovered this form myself. It originated from an anomaly in Lumiose City.
In Champion Ash's world, Lumiose City in the Kalos region had nearly suffered a devastating blow. Many uncontrolled Mega-Evolved Pokémon had appeared throughout Lumiose City. These Pokémon had no Trainers, yet were mid-transformation, and there were quite a few undocumented Mega-Evolved forms among them, such as Mega Aggron and Mega Hawlucha.
To find out the cause of the Mega Evolution riot, Champion Ash had gone to Lumiose City, which he hadn't returned to for a long time, only to find that Lumiose City had completely changed. A climbing competition called the ZA Mountain Climb was being held there.
Anyone who could reach the highest A rank would not only receive the title of Lumiose's Strongest Trainer, but would also receive an unconditional reward from the organizers, powerful enough to grant a single wish, even to become the ruler of Lumiose City.
Champion Ash, with his keen perception, sensed something was amiss. He concealed his name and appearance and entered the ZA climbing competition. Unsurprisingly, he became the strongest Trainer in the competition and met the organizers.
In front of the chairman of the organizing committee, Ash revealed his true form and asked about the Lumiose City climbing competition and the sudden surge of Mega Evolution Pokémon.
Ultimately, he learned the truth from someone named AZ. It turned out that Lysandre, the leader of a hostile faction, had activated the ultimate weapon, causing an abnormality in the equipment guarding the Prism Tower.
Initially, the situation had still been manageable, but recently, many Pokémon in Lumiose City had begun to be affected. Many berserk Pokémon had actively attacked humans, and some Pokémon in the deep mountains, for some unknown reason, possessed Mega Stones.
When exposed to the energy of these Mega Stones, the Pokémon could undergo Mega Evolution without a Trainer. However, this Mega Evolution caused the Pokémon to completely lose their rationality, and their energy ran rampant and uncontrollable. The entire city of Lumiose descended into chaos.
Finally, AZ and the Stellar Corporation came up with a plan. Select the strongest Trainer, and from there, that Trainer would go to the Prism Tower to stop the Overlord. To stop the Overlord, they needed a Pokémon that had been by AZ's side for three thousand years, an ancient Floette. Only with immense power could they succeed.
The Trainer had to be able to control the ancient Floette, allowing it to undergo Mega Evolution, thereby preventing the opposing overlord. This responsibility ultimately fell on Champion Ash, who lived up to everyone's expectations and cleared the Prism Tower crisis. However, it wasn't thanks to Floette, but rather the power of Greninja and Zygarde.
Awakened Ash: Greninja is a Pokémon from the Kalos region, right? Zygarde is the guardian deity protecting the world's ecosystem. Can those two Pokémon actually cooperate?
Because Champion Ash had only given a rough, simplified explanation, Ash didn't understand the specific details, but he felt extremely strange when he heard about Greninja and Zygarde cooperating. It sounded like saying that a Pidgey and Ho-Oh should team up to solve a world crisis. Just strange.
Champion Ash: My Greninja is a little different. Not just me, all the "Ashes" here are like that, including you, newcomer. One day, you'll meet your destined Froakie, and then you'll understand what I mean.
Champion Ash only briefly mentioned it. Saying too much might affect his own destiny, so he didn't intend to tell Ash about Greninja's special features, and continued explaining.
After resolving the Prism Tower incident, the anomalies in Lumiose City weren't over. A special alternate dimension appeared, containing a dark version of Lumiose City and many regional Pokémon. Furthermore, as time passed, the alternate dimension's range gradually expanded, while in reality, Lumiose was gradually being devoured.
So Champion Ash used a connection and brought in Delphox, and with Delphox's psychic abilities, he finally understood some of the rules governing the alternate dimension's appearance, as well as the sealing mechanism.
The instigator of the alternate dimension was Darkrai.
That Darkrai had absorbed the overflowing psychic energy of its host, leading to its own Mega Evolution explosion. Using the Nightmare God's power, it projected the dream world into reality, causing Lumiose City to be devoured by the dream world. Only after Champion Ash defeated Darkrai did the anomaly in Lumiose City finally end.
Although the anomaly ended, the appearance of the alternate dimension led to the discovery of even more Mega-Evolved Pokémon, but those were still confined within the alternate dimension. Mega-Evolved Pokémon had been discovered there, but there was no way for them to Mega Evolve in the real world.
Finally, Champion Ash discovered the reason. The genetic sequence hidden within those Pokémon hadn't been activated, so they couldn't resonate with the Mega Stone, and therefore couldn't undergo Mega Evolution. The principle of the alternate Lumiose City was that nightmares permeated the population's collective dreams. So some Pokémon's hidden gene sequences were inadvertently activated in dreams, ultimately allowing them to Mega Evolve within the alternate Lumiose.
Lucario's other Mega form was like that. But if Ash's Lucario hadn't entered the alternate Lumiose, then it couldn't use the dream world's power to activate the hidden gene sequence, which would leave Lucario unable to use the other Mega Stone.
Awakened Ash: Theoretically, if I want Lucario to Mega Evolve into the other form, do I need to find Darkrai first?
Champion Ash: That's one method. Now that I know the reason, why don't you try using your miraculous Aura Power to see if you can stimulate it?
Dream activation was just one method. If it had been anyone else, besides replicating Champion Ash's exact steps, there really wouldn't be any way to activate the hidden gene sequence. After all, this kind of thing involved Pokémon genes, and normally only researchers could come up with a solution. Trainers could just take a bath and go to sleep. It wasn't something that could be stimulated through training.
But Ash was different. He had Aura Power. That power, which created the wave-guiding force, was a versatile power, usable in any situation. Even something like a gene sequence could potentially be activated using Aura Power. So if Aura Power was ineffective, what should they do? Either go find Professor Oak to figure out a solution, or go find Darkrai.
Awakened Ash: I understand. Thank you, Champion!
Ash's consciousness returned to reality. He opened his eyes and simultaneously processed what Champion Ash had just said. Besides the Lucario gene sequence, there was one more thing he was extremely concerned about, and that was Froakie.
Even though Champion Ash hadn't said anything more, Ash's intuition told him that Froakie's existence was very important to him. However, he didn't have time to travel to the Kalos region right now, and encountering a Froakie was even more far-fetched, so he could only put this matter aside for now.
"Pika pika." Pikachu poked Ash, pointing forward. Ash looked in the direction Pikachu pointed and saw a white-haired old man striding toward them. This must be Mr. Kurt. He looked older than Ash, but his energy and spirit were in no way inferior to those of a young man. Were old people still this energetic these days?
"Hello, are you the young man that Oak mentioned?"
"Yes, my name is Ash. And these are my companions, Misty, Brock, and Serena."
Mr. Kurt nodded at the group, then immediately focused his gaze on Ash. "I know you. That guy Oak really found himself a good seed. Looks like the successor to the organization will arrive soon. Let me take a look at that Poké Ball."
"Okay." Ash took the GS Ball from his inventory and handed it over.
Mr. Kurt took the GS Ball and examined it casually. After a moment, he exclaimed in awe. "I really don't know who created this Poké Ball. Leaving aside its function, the technology alone is enough to shock us old guys. I need some time to study this Ball. Maizie, take them to the back mountain for a walk. If you can gather some Apricorns, I can help you make some Apricorn Balls."