(Claiming Swampertite)

There was a sound that Emi couldn't quite place, louder than her own footsteps, erratic and chaotic. Emi turned towards the source of the sound and found her own Mudkip playing with a round stone that was both blue and red, rolling the stone from place to place with her feet.

As Emi approached and saw the stone more closely, she realized that it was a Mega Stone, and a Swampertite at that. How serendipitous that her own Mudkip that would one day presumably become a Swampert had discovered a Mega Stone that worked on that very species! Of course, it was useless to them now--without a Key Stone, without Riptide's evolution, without knowledge of how Mega Evolution worked in the first place--but maybe someday, this serendipitous find would be of use to them both.

But first, Emi had to get the Mega Stone somewhere that she could hold onto it.

Emi crouched down and reached towards the Swampertite. "Can I have this, please?"

Riptide hesitated, placing one foot on top of the stone. "Kiiip."

Emi dug around in her bag and pulled out a berry, holding it in front of her. "I'll trade you."

The Mudkip removed her foot from atop the stone, staying still as Emi dropped the berry and grabbed the Swampertite. "Mudmud."

As Emi stood up, the Mudkip began... playing with the berry much as she had with the Swampertite, rolling it across the ground of the ruins. A smile sneaked its way onto Emi's face. How could she not be happy when accompanied by such cute Pokemon?

(Claiming Big Nugget)

Emi heard a sound much like the one before, but louder. She turned towards her Mudkip and found that the Pokemon had found something else to play with again, a big golden ball of some sort, nearly the size of Riptide herself. Riptide moved the ball back and forth, but seemed to struggle with moving such a large plaything.

Emi didn't even have to say anything this time around; upon reaching into her bag, Riptide abruptly stopped playing with the golden ball and looked up at Emi expectantly as she retrieved a berry for the Mudkip. This berry, however, was promptly devoured, and the Mudkip wandered off to find the one from before.

The ball was significantly heavier than Emi expected--no wonder her Mudkip had had difficulty moving it around! Between that and its shimmering surface, nearly pristine in condition but yielding when Emi gently but firmly pressed her thumb against it...

This wasn't just some golden ball, was it? It was gold, a nugget of pure gold, laying around in the ruins.

Emi smiled and carefully tucked away the gold nugget in her bag.

(Claiming Psychium-Z)

This time there was no object rolling around on the ground, no noise for Emi to pick up on save that of her Pokemon's footsteps. Riptide brought the item straight to her upon finding it, rushing towards Emi before gently dropping the item on the ground and looking up at Emi expectantly. Emi smiled as she gave her Mudkip another berry before picking up the Pokemon's latest find.

Upon picking up the item, Emi noticed both its pinkish hue and the icon in the middle of the object... Was that... a Z-Crystal? The longer she looked at it, the more certain she was that the stone was in fact a Z-Crystal--a Psychium-Z to be exact.

First a Mega Stone, now a Z-Crystal...

Emi could envision herself pursuing either of them, learning more about Mega Evolution or about Z-Moves until she could use them herself... It would likely be a tough journey, but then again, that would just make success all the sweeter. She could see keeping things the same as well, giving away or selling what she had found and washing her hands of the whole thing, but where was the fun in that?

Emi watched her Mudkip wander to and fro as she stood there, her thoughts going a mile a minute, her surroundings all but forgotten as she contemplated her next move.