Mega Evolution in Pokemon Go and How it will come into the game. My thoughts and predictions.

"Respond to my heart beyond evolution. Mega Evolve!"

Hey guys, so as many of you have either seen or heard, it has now been confirmed even from the Go Fest poster that Mega Evolution is coming soon to Pokemon Go. Now before I get into my thoughts and predictions as well as some of the Pokemon that are capable of mega evolving in the game, for those that do not know about mega evolution I'm gonna do some explaining and how it may be apart of something that is already in the game.

So mega evolution, what is it? Mega evolution is basically the highest form of evolution that a Pokemon can attain. While some may have a 3 stage evolution like the starters of each Gen, some of them can actually go beyond their final evolution and become a mega evolved Pokemon. Mega evolution according to the video games is attainable by a trainer when they have two items in their possession, a key stone and a mega stone. The key stone is worn by the trainer while the mega stone is an item that is held by the Pokemon. The mega stone has certain characteristics in that responds to that Pokemon typically that has the same name as the stone. The trainer can only use mega evolution during battling and lasts until the end of the battle or until that Pokemon is defeated. In the anime mega evolution follows the same characteristic, however the trainer and Pokemon that they are using for their mega evolve needs to be in sync with the trainer. If they are not there could be problems that arise with the mega evolution as some may have seen when the gym leader Korinna tried using mega evolution on her Lucario, but because they weren't on the same wavelength cause Lucario often used moves on its own without Korinna's command, it reverted into a savage state that couldn't distinguish friend from foe. Just because Pokemon can mega evolve doesn't mean that it is ready for it, nor is the trainer. When both Pokemon and trainer have a strong enough bond with each other and have attained that level of trust and friendship will they be in sync and be able to perform a mega evolution. At least according to the show.

That's just what I've seen from watching the show and playing the games. So now that its coming to Pokemon Go you may be wondering how its going to work in Pokemon Go. Well here is my theory on it and that is that we already have the makings of it with two words, Best Buddy. Yes, I believe that somehow the best buddy ribbon is going to be apart of the mega evolution process with Pokemon that are able to mega evolve. I also believe that the souvenirs have something to do with it as well.

When you reach Ultra Buddy with your Pokemon that you have set, your buddy will start bringing you random presents which contain some interesting souvenirs in them. Its unclear as to what these souvenirs actually do or their just a fun collectible item that people like to get from their pokemon just for fun. My thought is that when mega evolution comes to the game, your pokemon will have a chance of finding the mega stone that responds to its nature, or it will bring you pieces of the mega stone that you will need a certain amount of in order to have the complete mega stone. That's just one theory. My other 2 theories are that all the souvenirs that your buddies have been bringing you are things that it likes and thought that you would as well because of its nature. So what if somehow you could use these souvenirs in order to craft the mega stone from what it brought you. The souvenirs are a way of showing that your buddy has good feelings about you being its trainer and that the souvenirs it brings are things that strengthen the bond between you two. My last theory is that they'll just drop from pokestops which honestly sounds kind of lame.

Next why I believe the Best Buddy Ribbon is important to being able to Mega Evolve certain Pokemon. In order to earn a best buddy ribbon with your Pokemon you need to earn hearts with your buddy every day until it reaches the level of best buddy, much like friendship with other players. When you earn the Best Buddy Ribbon with your buddy it will be displayed on your buddy at all times and when it is set as your buddy it will also receive a CP boost and have its level increased by 1. Approximately it takes 30 days at least in order for you to reach best buddies with your Pokemon. This is ensuring that you earn at least 10 hearts a day with your buddy for that amount of time. Having the Best Buddy Ribbon on your pokemon to me is like a testament that you and that certain Pokemon have spent a good amount of quality time together and have strengthened your bond as trainer and Pokemon. With that level of friendship is attained by you and your Pokemon and it has the Best Buddy Ribbon I believe that you will get to select one of the souvenirs that your buddy has brought you in order to craft a sort of charm or some type of apparel for your buddy to wear as well to show that it is capable of mega evolution. The souvenir could also be something that is held by the trainer for their keystone, most likely it could be something only seen during Go Battle League cause we don't see other trainers during a raid.

Now for the keystone. Since this is something that is normally held by the trainer and not the pokemon I find that it would be something that you would have to go to great lengths to look for. My prediction on this is that there will be another Team Go Rocket Event coming soon to Pokemon Go where Team Rocket has been looking into Mega Evolutions for Pokemon. They are looking for a keystone which is in the possession of Prof. Willow that they want to get their hands on and you will have to defeat Go Rocket grunts, the leaders, and the big bad boss himself Giovanni once again to put a stop to their plans. If they manage to get their hands on the keystone in Prof. Willow's possession, they will use it to create an altered keystone which will allow them to mega evolve Pokemon without the need of mega stones for those Pokemon. This will be a special quest of course where this time around the Team Leaders will have the 3 legendary beasts in their party and Giovanni will have a new shadow Pokemon in his ranks, Shadow Lugia.

Once you have completed the special quest you will have the chance to once again capture the 3 shadow legendary beasts and the all new shadow Lugia. As a token of appreciation and showing that there is a true connection between you and your Pokemon that you have watching your growth, Prof. Willow decides that the keystone is better kept safe in your hands and your Pokemon will have better use for it being able to mega evolve and hopes that it will bring you and your Pokemon success along your journey. Another theory, and this one is kind of a long shot, is that after you defeat Giovanni Prof. Willow believes that you have indeed proven yourself to be a a great Pokemon trainer, maybe even something more. There's only one way to find out, Prof. Willow challenges you to a Pokemon battle himself using his own specially picked team of 3. If you are successful in beating him you get to claim stardust, some rare candies, and of course the keystone which will allow you to perform mega evolution with certain Pokemon of yours. If not, you just keep challenging him to battle until you can beat him. All of this is just something that have theorized, it in no way has been made official, but time will tell to see how and when they will decide to implement Mega Evolution.

Now onto the Mega Evolutions themselves and who has access to them. The following Pokemon will be able to Mega Evolve when the time comes: Charizard(2 forms), Blastioise, Venusaur, Pidgeot, Beedrill, Alakazam, Slowbro, Gengar, Kangaskhan, Pinsir, Gyrados, Mewtwo(2 forms), Ampharos, Steelix, Scizor, Heracross, Houndoom, Tyranitar, Sceptile, Blaziken, Swampert, Gardevoir, Sableye, Mawhile, Aggron, Medicham, Manetric, Sharpedo, Camerupt, Altaria, Bannette, Absol, Glalie, Salamence, Metagross, Latias, Latios, Kyogre(Primal), Groudon(Primal), Rayquayza, Lopunny, Garchomp, Lucario, Abomasnow, Gallade, Audino, and Diancie(not released yet). Now some of these mega evolutions are a bit different than some in the sense that they have 2 different mega evolution forms. Charizard and Mewtwo have two different mega stones (Megastone X and Megastone Y) which alter their appearance and also their type when they mega evolve. When Charizard mega evolves using the Charizardite X it mega evolve from a fire and flying type into a fire and dragon-type, using Charizardite Y will alter its appearance during battle, but it will remain a fire and flying-type. When mewtwo mega evolves using mewtwonite X it will become a psychic and fighting-type and when using mewtwonite Y it will remain a pure psychic-type. These aren't the only two Pokemon that undergo a type change during mega evolution many others do as well and many more Pokemon being capable of mega evolution are still being discovered. When Pokemon do mega evolve in Go they will see a great increase in both their CP and their attack power. Much like the console and handheld games when Pokemon mega evolve even though their power is increased their HP status will remain the same so they will still take a lot of damage from super effective hitting moves.

That's all I have for now on my predictions and theories on how Niantic can bring Mega Evolution into the game. What Mega Evolutions are you guys looking forward to the most? I really wanna see Mega Lucario, Mega Sceptile, and Mega Charizard in the game cause they are some of my favorite pokemon of all time. Its going to be interesting to see how Mega Evolutions will affect the game especially in Go Battle League. I recommend though that if you have any 100%(4-star) of any of the Pokemon that I listed here that are able to mega evolve that you max them out because they will be hitting pretty hard especially during raids when you need that extra power and also for Master League for Go Battle League, preferably the Premier League, so as to not run into any legendaries.

That's all for now, hope you guys are all staying safe out there and be sure to have fun and be mindful of your surroundings while playing.