Do you think maybe every Pokemon might have a mega evolution we haven’t found yet? I’m not too educated, so maybe I missed one of your posts. Thanks!

Well, every fully evolved one, certainly. While Professor Sycamore’s research is incomplete in the matter, I’d imagine that the ability to evolve to another stage would interfere with one’s ability to mega evolve, as the processes are very similar and likely use the same pathways, so to speak.

That having been said, yes, I do believe it’s possible. The pokémon known to mega evolve are just varied enough that it wouldn’t make sense otherwise. Why is a pidgeot capable of mega evolution but not a fearow or any other fully evolved bird pokémon, for example? Or what about slowbro but not slowking? Surely these pokémon are also capable; it’s likely we simply haven’t found their corresponding mega stones yet.

Hello Bill, I have a question about Mega Evolution! I’ve only been told people could do it but… Is it one of those skills not everyone can do or can anyone just “bond” with their pokemon and reap the battle benefits?

Ah, I’m afraid it’s the latter, anonymous, which is unfortunate because many researchers would jump at the chance to study it firsthand. But the unfortunate fact of the matter is that mega evolution is a fantastically taxing process on both the trainer and the pokémon. First and foremost, you need a pokémon who’s strong enough to withstand mega evolution in the first place. Then, you need to ensure that the bond between you and it is as strong as you can get it, and then, you need to ensure you can summon the emotional strength needed to trigger evolution and then maintain it throughout a battle. The whole thing can be exhausting even for seasoned veterans, which is why only a select few with particularly strong pokémon and/or psyches can achieve it.

Onix and Steelix

bills-pokedex:

Onix
The Rock Snake Pokémon
Type: Rock/Ground
Official Registration #: 96
Entry: A giant serpentine pokémon native to the cave systems of Kanto and Johto. As it grows, onix’s stone body hardens until its skin resembles diamond, which protects it as it burrows at high speeds in search of sustenance … all of which is not an extended euphemism, contrary to the opinions of the Sinnohan storage system administrator.

Steelix
The Iron Snake Pokémon
Type: Steel/Ground
Official Registration #: 208
Entry: The evolved form of onix, most easily via trading if the subject has had a metal coat applied to it. As this snake-like pokémon ages, it burrows deeper into the ground, where the pressure of the earth itself and the heat from the planet’s core tempers its steel skin. While tamed steelix may have this coat artificially applied to it before trading, it is possible for steelix to evolve from wild onix. Using this process, steelix initially have a rocky hide but form their coats from the minerals it consumes as it burrows. A sheath begins to form on its face first (as this is the first thing that burrows into the ground) but gradually slides backwards until it coats the entire length of the specimen. Friction compacts and hardens this coat until the aforementioned process of tempering (via pressure from the earth and heat from the planetary core) may occur. And no, this is still not an extended euphemism, Bebe.

Mega Steelix
The Iron Snake Pokémon
Type: Steel/Ground
Official Registration #: 208+
Entry: The advanced form of steelix, via steelixite. As the result of mega evolution, this long, snake-like pokémon gains a considerable amount of power and mass. In fact, during its transformation, it not only grows in length, but its sheath hardens considerably, until excess matter is blown off the base of its head, and the author has decided that he is entirely unable to continue this entry because he can hear his Sinnohan counterpart cackling like a thirteen-year-old from all the way over here.

Rufflet and Braviary

bills-pokedex:

Rufflet
The Eaglet Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 627
Entry: An eagle-like pokémon known for its particularly fascinating tendency to stand up to any opponent, no matter how large or powerful they may be. This is, in general, an honorable behavior to display. It is important to stand up for your principles, after all, even if those principles result in you rolling down Cycling Road in a trash bin because you decided to stand up to the Celadon University rugby team while conveniently forgetting that you lack any sort of battling skills, hand-to-hand combat training, or, in fact, any semblance of hand-eye coordination.

To your credit, at least it was casserole day, so you had a cushion and free dinner. —LH

Braviary
The Valiant Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 628
Entry: The evolved form of rufflet, by battle experience. A large, eagle-like pokémon that will fight for its friends, regardless of the risks to itself. Because of this behavior, braviary has been taken to be a symbol of sorts to various regions and nations—including and especially Unova, where braviary represents FREEDOM. Which is, as the writer understands it from his good friends on the internet, a distinctly separate concept from freedom, as FREEDOM apparently involves far more fireworks, guns, ursaring, and acts of throwing perfectly good tea into a questionably good harbor.

Mega Braviary
The Valiant Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 628+
Entry: The advanced form of braviary, via heightened FREEDOM. It’s just a braviary with more guns, less inhibitions, and a questionable moral compass. Its hobbies include speaking very loudly and dumping perfectly good tea into harbors.

Bill … this pokémon doesn’t even exist. Are you just posting this because you’re still angry about that one time someone dumped tea into your pond? —LH

I didn’t think he’d actually do it! —Bill

Hoenn Legendaries! Mostly Rayquaza. :D

bills-pokedex:

Well, there are certainly a number of fascinating stories about the Hoenn region, and a single post can’t quite do them all justice. For that reason, let this be the first in a (half-)week-long Hoenn special.

Starting with, of course:

Rayquaza
The Sky High Pokémon
Type: Dragon/Flying
Official Registration #: 384
Entry: According to Hoennian lore, this legendary dragon has lived for millions of years in the uppermost layers of the planet’s atmosphere, and because of how far high and how fast it flies, only recently (comparatively speaking) has humanity developed the technology that makes it possible to see Rayquaza in flight. Otherwise, it does not leave this part of the atmosphere except for when Earth is in imminent danger. Rather, it glides ever vigilantly across the sky, sleeping rarely and eating nothing but the tops of thunderclouds and incoming meteoroids. The author really has nothing funny to say about Rayquaza; he just thinks the idea of an eternal, meteoroid-consuming dragon flying across the edge of space is awesome.

Mega Rayquaza
The Sky High Pokémon
Type: Dragon/Flying
Official Registration #: 384+
Entry:
The advanced form of Rayquaza, via heightened draconic energies. According to ancient legend of the Draconid people, the legendary Rayquaza is capable of mega evolving if it engages in the ancient dance of Dragon Ascent after consuming a meteorite. This is only partially true. While Rayquaza can indeed mega evolve upon executing Dragon Ascent, its body is apparently not all that discerning when it comes to what it needs to consume in order to obtain enough cosmic energies for mega evolution. While meteors are indeed among the possible objects Rayquaza can consume for such energy, it’s more common that Rayquaza’s mega evolutions are powered by the souls of minior.

You’re welcome.

The Bagon Line

bills-pokedex:

Bagon
The Rock Head Pokémon
Type: Dragon
Official Registration #: 371
Entry: A small, dragon-like pokémon first discovered in the cave systems of Hoenn. The most notable fact about this dragon-like pokémon is its passion for learning how to fly. Indeed, it believes it can fly. It believes it can touch the sky. It thinks about it every night and day: spreading its wings and flying away.

I don’t know what’s worse: the fact that you know that song in the first place or the fact that you’re not above quoting it in lieu of a proper entry. —LH

Shelgon
The Endurance Pokémon
Type: Dragon
Official Registration #: 372
Entry: The evolved form of bagon, by battle experience. Shelgon is essentially the ultimate middle evolution. It represents the crossroads between the ever idealistic bagon with its dreams of flying and the high-flying salamence. However, in the process, shelgon is also literally a chrysalis, a stage in which a member of the bagon family slowly turns into a flight-capable pokémon, cell by cell. As such, shelgon possesses a hard, armor-like shell that fully protects it from any physical assault during its transformation. Although such a shell is rock-hard, it’s also extremely cumbersome, and because of this, most shelgon are slow and sluggish. This, of course, is a good thing—not because its slow pace allows it to focus on bracing for impact and more because it allows the average researcher to test exactly how durable this shell and then run away before enduring a Bite themselves.

Salamence
The Dragon Pokémon
Type: Dragon/Flying
Official Registration #: 373
Entry: The evolved form of shelgon, by battle experience. Also: a large, dragon-like pokémon that is roughly the size and shape of a winged wailmer. According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way this pokémon should be able to fly. Its wings are too awkwardly shaped to get its hefty body off the ground. The salamence, of course, flies anyway because it doesn’t care what humans think is impossible.

Okay, now you’re just being lazy. It’s not even a bee. —LH

To be fair, it’s a dragon-type, dragon-like pokémon the Symposium saw fit to call “the dragon pokémon.” I firmly believe I’m the least lazy person involved with distributing information about it. —Bill

Mega Salamence
The Dragon Pokémon
Type: Dragon/Flying
Official Registration #: 373+
Entry: The advanced form of salamence, via salamencite. Pokédex entries about this pokémon’s viciousness are greatly exaggerated. While it’s very true that mega salamence descend from the skies at high speeds and that in doing so, it may slice an opponent in half, in reality, this has less to do with its temper or lust for violence and more to do with the fact that its new form is not, generally speaking, designed for steering.

Swablu and Altaria

bills-pokedex:

Swablu
The Cotton Bird Pokémon
Type: Normal/Flying
Official Registration #: 333
Entry: A small, bluebird-like pokémon most commonly found in the mountains of Hoenn. This gentle pokémon is known for its highly friendly demeanor towards humans. When a human wanders into their territory, swablu like to swoop in and settle onto the human’s head like a hat made of down and soft, pillowy cotton. This specific behavior is likely due to the swablu’s preference for soft, pliable building materials for their nests, so therefore, it is said that if a swablu settles on you, then it deems you both trustworthy and comfortable. If, however, two swablu settle on you and proceed to lay eggs on your head, then they deem you extremely trustworthy and comfortable. Or at least this is what the author’s partner and editor assured him when he suddenly found himself with an entire team of swablu.

Altaria
The Humming Pokémon
Type: Dragon/Flying
Official Registration #: 334
Entry: The evolved form of swablu, by battle experience. This graceful pokémon is known for its singing ability and its soft, cloud-like wings. When bonding with its trainer, an altaria will envelope said trainer in its wings and sing a beautiful, soothing melody to lull them to sleep. Or, at least, scientists assume this is an act of bonding and that any unfortunate mishaps involving dense wings and songs that lull a human to sleep are entirely accidental. This is also something the author’s editor (or, rather, her sister) assures him whenever her altaria shows “displays of affection” and “excitement to see him.”

Mega Altaria
The Humming Pokémon
Type: Dragon/Fairy
Official Registration #: 334+
Entry: The advanced form of altaria, via altarianite. The mega evolution of altaria is noted for being far more sociable and vocal than its base form. It’s highly affectionate, and it often sings a soothing, melodic tone when it’s about to display affection towards a given target. This is handy for said target, by the way, should he wish to not be smothered to near death by a cloud of feathers from a very familiar altaria. Again.

Sableye

bills-pokedex:

Sableye
The Darkness Pokémon
Type: Dark/Ghost
Official Registration #: 302
Entry: A small, imp-like pokémon first discovered in the cave systems of Hoenn. In the wild, this pokémon subsists entirely on the jewels and precious stones found in its native habitat. It consumes so many of these on a daily basis that parts of its body have crystalized into gem-like forms. This includes its eyes; at birth, wild sableye actually possess two completely organic eyeballs. It’s just that these eyes harden into a diamond-like substance over time. Domestically bred sableye, however, possess these diamond eyes from the start, due to the fact that trainers and breeders wishing to hatch sableye are extremely careful in maintaining a high mineral content not only in the parents’ diet but also in the incubator holding the egg. And this is done because wild newborn sableye typically look like this:

Mega Sableye
The Darkness Pokémon
Type: Dark/Ghost
Official Registration #: 302+
Entry: The advanced form of sableye, via sablenite. The surge of power from mega evolution causes this pokémon’s jewel to burst from its chest and expand to a size that’s both taller and ten times heavier than the host sableye, which enables it to be used as a shield (albeit one too heavy and unwieldy for the sableye to move).

The author admits that there is no punchline to this entry. He’s simply delighted to have another opportunity to share the above image with all of you again.

Mawile

bills-pokedex:

Mawile
The Deceiver Pokémon
Type: Steel/Fairy
Official Registration #: 303
Entry: A small, childlike pokémon first discovered in the cave systems of Hoenn. This pokémon is famous for its giant and fantastically strong set of false jaws growing from its head. Trainers should take caution: the front of this pokémon looks adorable, a fact that this pokémon uses to its advantage in order to lure in prey. When prey is close enough, it turns abruptly and chomps down on the unsuspecting victim with its false jaws. As for its strength, mawile is capable of biting through steel beams. Its false jaws, meanwhile, can do much worse.

Mega Mawile
The Deceiver Pokémon
Type: Steel/Fairy
Official Registration #: 303+
Entry: The advanced form of mawile, via mawilite. Should anyone wish to know why mawile grows a second false jaw upon mega evolution, the answer is simple: one is for gripping a victim with a bite force so strong escape becomes impossible, while the other is for viciously tearing said victim apart. Although, really, if you’ve attempted to physically assault a creature whose modus operandi in its base form is to lull a victim into a false sense of security with its cute face and then whip its single set of jaws at them, then at the risk of being thoroughly unprofessional, what it does with two sets of jaws should hardly be a surprise.

The Beldum Line

bills-pokedex:

Beldum
The Iron Ball Pokémon
Type: Steel/Psychic
Official Registration #: 374
Entry: A magnetic pokémon rare in but native to the mountains of Hoenn and Sinnoh. It uses its magnetism to move and communicate with other beldum, both of which are essential to it, as its movepool is limited. More specifically, until evolution, beldum only learn one move naturally: Take Down, a devastating physical move in which it rams itself into its opponent, dealing damage to both itself and its target. As an aside, given the shape of this pokémon and the aforementioned fact, it is worth it to note that “rams itself into its opponent” is also not a euphemism, Bebe, and quite frankly, the author is horrified by the fact that anyone thinks it would be.

Metang
The Iron Claw Pokémon
Type: Steel/Psychic
Official Registration #: 375
Entry: The evolved form of beldum, by battle experience. When two beldum become very close, their magnetism draws them closer together until they fuse at the head to form a larger, faster, and stronger pokémon gifted with a higher sense of enlightenment and intelligence. To answer Bebe’s question, no, this is not a metaphor, nor is this an accurate description of how certain organs the author and people like him would work during any sort of biological function outside of terribly written and highly bizarre slash fanfiction.

Metagross
The Iron Leg Pokémon
Type: Steel/Psychic
Official Registration #: 376
Entry: The evolved form of metagross, by battle experience. Much akin to beldum evolution, metagross form when two metang fuse. The resulting pokémon is not only physically and magically powerful (in that it is capable of launching both devastating physical attacks and devastating psychic attacks) but also highly intelligent. The combined brains of the constituent metang work in unison, allowing the metagross’s brain as a whole to function as a highly efficient supercomputer. …This, of course, is what makes metagross interesting, not the first thing in this entry, yet the author’s Sinnohan colleague is writing the fanfiction anyway.

Mega Metagross
The Iron Leg Pokémon
Type: Steel/Psychic
Official Registration #: 376+
Entry: The advanced form of metagross, via metagrossite. As a result of the power surge from mega evolution, this already fiercely intelligent and extremely powerful pokémon becomes a veritable force of nature on the battlefield. That is to say, mega metagross combines newly sharpened intellect with incredible offensive capabilities to engage in battles so brutal and strategically destructive that opponents—and stadiums—are often rendered utterly out of commission for weeks. Another interesting fact: mega metagross is the signature mega evolution of the champion of Hoenn, Steven Stone. Just … as an unrelated side note that in no way is relevant to the author’s partner.

I can’t tell if you’re trying to dissuade me from having an entirely platonic relationship with Steven because you’re jealous of him or of me. —LH

I don’t see how any part of that could possibly indicate that I’m at all jealous of either of you. —Bill

…okay, maybe I’m a little jealous of you. How did you manage to get invited to coffee with him anyway?! I’ve been talking to him about rare stones and pokémon for years, and we’re barely on a first-name basis! —Bill

A girl has her secrets. 😉 —LH