"I'm a Psychic, so my perception of energy is much more sensitive than that of an ordinary person."
"During the countless attempts Pidgeot and I made to achieve Mega Evolution and master its power, I discovered something."
"Although the Key Stone and compatible Mega Stone do provide a portion of the energy involved in Mega Evolution, the amount of energy they actually provide is extremely small."
"The role played by the Key Stone and the Mega Stone corresponding to the Pokémon in Mega Evolution is more like that of a key."
"The energy it provides is simply the energy required for that 'key' to perform its function—to open Mega Evolution and construct some kind of mysterious bridge for the process."
"The energy actually used and consumed to trigger Mega Evolution and maintain the Mega-Evolved state does not come from the Key Stone and Mega Stone."
"It comes from something else."
"After conducting long-term experiments and research, I eventually identified the actual source supplying the energy for Mega Evolution."
"That source is the Trainer and the Pokémon themselves."
"The energy consumed by Mega Evolution is actually the physical strength, mental energy, and the power of the emotional bond between Trainer and Pokémon."
Ash presented his theory and his understanding of Mega Evolution.
"The power of an emotional bond?"
Professor Sycamore could understand the idea that Mega Evolution consumed physical and mental energy after giving it some thought, even though he had not previously considered it.
But the idea of the power of an emotional bond was something he had never expected.
However, Ash had already surprised him repeatedly with his understanding of Mega Evolution, forcing Sycamore to reconsider many of his previous assumptions.
Therefore, rather than immediately questioning Ash's claim about emotional bonds, Professor Sycamore simply waited for him to explain further.
And Ash had no intention of keeping him in suspense.
He immediately began explaining how he had arrived at this conclusion.
"As a Pokémon reaches the later stages of its growth, increasing its strength becomes progressively more difficult."
"There was a period when Pidgeot reached a bottleneck in its growth. In order to continue improving Pidgeot's strength, I began conducting more in-depth research into Mega Evolution."
"One day, I suddenly noticed something."
"Pidgeot's strength level clearly hadn't increased, yet compared with before, the power it displayed after Mega Evolution had become much stronger."
"At first, I was extremely confused by this."
"After all, Mega Evolution consumes an enormous amount of energy."
"So Pidgeot and I didn't actually perform Mega Evolution particularly frequently."
"Because of that, improvements in our familiarity with Mega Evolution and Pidgeot's increasingly precise control over its power couldn't fully explain such a dramatic increase."
"At least, those factors alone shouldn't have been enough to make Pidgeot's Mega Evolution suddenly become so much more powerful than before."
"At first, I couldn't figure out why."
"Then, one day, on a whim, I took the Mega Stone to one of the wild Pidgeot treated at my wilderness clinic—one that had already reached the level of strength required for Mega Evolution—and decided to conduct an experiment."
"In the end, I discovered that I couldn't Mega Evolve with that wild Pidgeot at all."
"Even though its physical constitution was excellent, its control over its own strength was also very good, and its strength level had reached the standard required for Mega Evolution, it still couldn't Mega Evolve."
"After studying the matter for some time, I eventually realized something."
"Pidgeot and I spend every day together. We trust each other completely, and our bond is extremely deep."
"When we Mega Evolve, both of us genuinely want to accomplish the same goal."
"That, I believe, is why we can successfully Mega Evolve."
"But the wild Pidgeot and I didn't possess any of those things."
"So I abstracted all of those conditions into one concept—the emotional bond between a Pokémon and its Trainer."
"I'm not certain exactly what proportion of the energy supplied during Mega Evolution comes from this emotional bond."
"But in my opinion, the emotional bond in Mega Evolution is like the Key Stone and Mega Stone."
"It is an indispensable and necessary condition."
For Professor Sycamore, a researcher who had dedicated himself to studying Mega Evolution, Ash had once again provided an extremely valuable piece of information.
"The emotional bond with one's Pokémon...?"
Sycamore fell into deep thought.
He suddenly remembered something.
Previously, he had asked Champion Diantha if he could borrow the Key Stone and Mega Stone she used with her Gardevoir for research.
Diantha had refused.
The reason she gave at the time was that the Key Stone and Mega Stone were witnesses to the bond between her and Gardevoir, and therefore she could not casually lend them to someone else.
Remembering Diantha's words from that conversation, Professor Sycamore found himself believing Ash's theory about emotional bonds even more strongly.
"Mhm."
Ash nodded without adding anything.
"..."
"..."
Ash and Professor Sycamore continued talking for a while, and their conversation remained centered around Mega Evolution.
However, for Ash, Mega Evolution was actually not a particularly complicated subject.
After all, in the original anime, Mega Evolution was introduced as a concept during Generation VI.
For a practical Trainer like Ash, there simply was not much that needed to be investigated.
All he needed to know was that Mega Evolution was essentially a temporary evolution-like transformation used during battle.
A Pokémon needed to have reached its final evolutionary form.
Its normal battle strength and physical constitution needed to be sufficiently mature to withstand the enormous increase in power brought about by Mega Evolution without suffering excessive strain or irreversible damage.
Its willpower and ability to control its own strength also needed to be strong enough to handle the power gained through Mega Evolution without allowing that overwhelming force to affect its mind and cause it to lose control.
And, of course, Mega Evolution required a Key Stone and the corresponding Mega Stone.
Once a Trainer understood all of those things, that was already enough.
There was no real need for a Trainer to investigate the source or nature of Mega Evolution's power.
Knowing that the bond between Trainer and Pokémon could strengthen Mega Evolution was enough.
For a Trainer who already possessed the power of Mega Evolution, the practical thing to do was simply to keep deepening the bond with their Pokémon.
That was all.
Ultimately, as a Pokémon Trainer, everything revolved around one word:
Practicality.
If something was useful, study it.
If it was useless, there was no need to waste time worrying about it.
Only scholars and researchers like Professor Sycamore needed to investigate the principles and nature of Mega Evolution, the source of its energy, which Pokémon were capable of Mega Evolution, and countless other academic questions.
As for exactly which Pokémon could Mega Evolve?
Why bother worrying about it?
If a compatible Mega Stone could be found, then naturally that Pokémon could Mega Evolve.
If no Mega Stone could be found, then it obviously couldn't.
Simple.
Although Mega Evolution was extremely straightforward in Ash's eyes because he valued strength and practical usefulness above all else, the explanation he had just given—and the entire discussion he had shared with Professor Sycamore—was anything but simple from an academic perspective.
For Professor Sycamore, Ash had provided an enormous amount of precious and extremely rare research data.
Whether it was the hidden risks behind Mega Evolution...
Or the revelation that the energy used by Mega Evolution did not primarily come from the Key Stone and Mega Stone, but instead from the physical and mental energy of the Trainer and Pokémon...
Or the discovery that the emotional bond between Trainer and Pokémon was not only a necessary condition for Mega Evolution, but also acted as a catalyst that could strengthen the process...
Each of these revelations was extraordinarily valuable.
Taken together, Ash's theories overturned many of the current academic community's assumptions regarding Mega Evolution.
Although Ash was still very young, he was a genuine Trainer who possessed and had personally mastered the power of Mega Evolution.
When it came to this subject, he undeniably had the experience and authority to speak.
And for Professor Sycamore, the young Trainer sitting before him was no longer merely an exceptionally talented child.
He was a living source of first-hand Mega Evolution research data.