"Alright Korrina," Gurkinn sighed, growing exasperated, "let's try this one more time." His granddaughter nodded with frustration as well as determination.

"Right!" Her left hand tightened into a fist as she raised it; on the battlefield, her Lucario watched her carefully, as did her Pangoro sitting on the sidelines with her grandfather. Her fingertips brushed the key stone in her glove, causing it glow as well as the Lucarionite embedded in the gauntlet on the pokémon's wrist.

"Mega evolve!" she shouted. Light engulfed the field. Through the brightness, it appeared as though Lucario had begun to glow with an orange hue, similar to the colour of its mega stone. The light around the pokémon began to pulsate, and it even looked like Lucario was changing shape, growing in size even! However the barrier of light began to waver and weaken, before it disappeared entirely. The final remains of Korrina's attempt, a string of a light connecting her key stone with Lucario's mega stone, disintegrated, and both stones dulled once more.

The old man sighed again. Korrina, irritated by her inability to activate mega evolution, kicked at the ground with a growl, only for this action to make her fall over due to her wearing her skates. Her Pangoro instantly jumped to her feet, running over to check on her partner. The gym leader's Lucario also started toward the girl only to be stopped by her grandfather.

"It was a good attempt," he told it, removing its Poké Ball from his pocket, "You rest up while I talk to my granddaughter." The pokémon hesitated at first before nodding and pressing the button on the ball, returning itself.

"Really, Chammy Bear, I'm fine," the teenager chucked from behind him. He sighed as he turned around, seeing the larger pokémon hovering protectively over the girl as she got to her feet again. Her smile fell however as she realised her grandfather was watching. And he was not amused.

"Pangoro, if you would give me a moment with Korrina?" he said, and though she hesitated at first, shuffling away from the two humans slowly, she did eventually leave them be. Only then did Gurkinn sigh and say, "This isn't good enough, Korrina." The girl flinched at the disappointment the sentence betrayed.

"I know it isn't, grampa. But I swear, I'm trying!"

"I won't deny that you're trying, but you aren't trying hard enough." Korrina let out a groan of frustration under her breath as she kicked at the ground again, less vigourously than earlier, before she replied, "I am, grampa, I-" She was quickly cut off by her grandfather's sharp snap of, "No you are not, Korrina! You are not trying hard enough, otherwise you would have achieved Mega Evolution by now!" The girl couldn't help but pout, then snap back, "Then what am I supposed to do? Not to seem insensitive or anything, but isn't it enough that Riolu evolved into Lucario in the first place?"

"Mega Evolution requires more than that! It is about more than just being able to make your pokémon evolve to its next natural stage!" Gurkinn's outburst made Korrina flinch again, and she kept her head down, focusing on her hands as they fidgeted with the hem of her skirt. The old man pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to calm himself again, tried to slow his breathing back down. Korrina bit her lip, then asked quietly, "Then what do I do?" Lowering his hand from his face, Gurkinn regarded his granddaughter carefully.

"Mega Evolution," he started slowly, "is about more than just being a good friend to your pokémon or about being able to evolve them. It is a stronger bond than that. I can see that you and Lucario are close friends, and you both fight well together, however it isn't enough. The bond you need to accomplish this would have to be stronger, more akin to what you share with Pangoro."

"Then I can't do it," the girl sighed, skating off the battlefield and taking a seat on a small rock. "I get what you're saying gramps, and I care about all my pokémon. But Pangoro and I have been together since I was a little kid. How could I get that same relationship with Lucario? And really, it's all just for Mega Evolution, so it feels a bit cheap to me." Gurkinn found his frustration growing again, though he tried to suppress it; getting angry wouldn't solve anything, especially after he'd just calmed down after having a fortunately brief moment.

"Korrina, I understand what you're saying," he said, walking over and bending down next to the girl, "However you should also understand that Mega Evolution is something important to our family. Being able to master it is something the chosen successor of each new generation should be able to accomplish. Something that you have been chosen to do."

"But why?" she whispered, her voice quivering. Her grandfather placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder; his own key stone embedded in his glove shone as it caught the sunlight.

"I have to be honest and say that, for the most part, it is for the sake of the legacy, to carry the action on. However it is also for the sake of research, so that we may understand more about it. We are fortunate that Professor Sycamore has also taken to researching Mega Evolution and can provide us with help. But really, this is something our family must do." Korrina didn't respond. With another sigh, the man got to his feet again and said, "I know this is a lot of responsability for you. I'll leave you to think about this."

He turned and crossed the battlefield, headed toward the tower's back entrance. He didn't react to seeing Korrina's Pangoro hovering in the shadows, nor when she herself walked past him without being told so. He halted in the door frame, looking behind him; the pokémon stood next to Korrina with a reassuring paw wrapped around her shoulders as she leaned into her partner. Gurkinn shook his head and continued into the building, ignoring the shaking Poké Ball in his pocket.

Drabble in a nutshell: Korrina has a lot of pressure on her.

Also, I have to confess that I actually started this drabble a few months back, during my blank period when I couldn't write at all (So bonus points to me for being able to start it at all, though minus points for not being able to finish it). I got inspired by the anime's mini arc about Korrina and her trying to master mega evolution.

Gurkinn here isn't as strict as anime!Gurkinn (I hope), and without translations, I can't say how he measures up to Special!Gurkinn, but I was trying to get a balance of "caring grandparent" and "firm but fair teacher". Hope I managed it. :''D

Also, due to when I'm posting this, I guess this is sort of an anniversary gift to the X and Y games, though I'll probably try and write a proper one later on in the day. But yeh; happy anniversary X and Y/GenVI.

I hope you enjoyed reading, do feel free to review and fave if you so choose. Constructive criticism is also nice and would be quite helpful.

Till next time!

Angel-chan x