Zorbodile

The animation is so cheap but honestly these two are adorable.

As you know, Steven is a pretty simple guy. He talks like he’s in the 13th century and he travels a lot collecting rocks. Pretty boring character, right? Wrong. There is a lot more to him than we think.

Let’s talk about him in the Mega Evolution special. He’s a lot more perceptive than we make him out to be. He’s polite and his usual mature self as he talks to Mairin despite his suspicions.

Until Alan shows up.

Alan immediately notices Steven’s Key Stone. Then Steven’s whole demeanor changes. 

Steven’s speech pattern soon turns into banter. This may be because Alan knew what a key stone was despite mega evolution just being discovered. It could also be due to spotting Alan’s own key stone. But the strange thing is is that Steven’s gentlemanly persona just drops.

His whole speech pattern turns almost sarcastic and sing-songy. He is obviously mocking Alan and playing hard to battle. If you listen to the Japanese dub, it is very evident. 

Of course, he could be acting this way due to Alan’s immature persistence on battling. It’s obvious that Steven knows they aren’t from here so his change in behavior could be because they do not know who he is (which is something he’s not used to getting.) He is being challenged as a trainer and not the champion or Silph Co heir. This makes it really evident that his professional and gentlemanly persona is a fake.

He shuts his eyes after Alan’s statement and responds mockingly. 

And then this

SERIOUSLY STEVEN?? IS THAT YOU?! WHY ARE YOU ACTING LIKE THIS?? Right after mockingly responding to Alan he opens his eyes, looks directly at him in the eyes with that smug face.

They battle and it is obvious that Steven is going easy. He could have easily defeated Alan’s charizard but he doesn’t. Instead, he just watches - possibly to see how strong he is.

Then Lysandre shows up after interrupting the battle and this is Steven’s reaction:

IS NO ONE GOING TO TALK ABOUT THIS? Look at his face. He appears cold and almost apathetic. It appears for about 1 second then quickly disappears. This is not the look of suspicion or his serious face whatsoever. One second ago he was smiling and acting all teasingly and then this. What?

Once Lysandre tells Alan that Steven is the Hoenn champion, Steven’s whole persona changes once again. He becomes his usual gentlemanly self. After Lysandre introduces himself telling Steven that he is from the Kalos region, he doesn’t seem that phased until Lysandre makes eye contact with him which causes this reaction:

Steven appears almost scared. He obviously knows that this ‘Lysandre’ is a dangerous person just by looking into his eyes.

He’s obviously highly suspicious. After this, Steven throughout the episode becomes more jumpy. An example is when right after Lysandre discusses who he is, he jumps a bit to Mairin’s sudden speaking and looks at her hastily.  

Despite his suspicions, he knows the only way to understand mega evolution and to get anywhere is if he shares his information with Lysandre. 

He obviously is pretending to go with it and pretending to trust Lysandre.

His smile seems really forced. It appears that he knows something bad is going to happen whether to him or even Hoenn.

And then this

WTF STEVEN?? WHAT IS UP WITH YOUR FACE? 

No this is not his serious face. This is what he’s really like. Have you ever noticed that whenever no one is looking this is his face? He never makes faces like this while people are watching or talking to him. His public persona is a fake. And the Mega Evolution special makes it really obvious. He’s not that dorky lovable champion everyone sees him as. The real him is most likely cold, withdrawn and serious.

Soon after Lysandre tells Alan where to investigate, Steven hastily says he’ll go with him knowing that this will interfere with Lysandre’s plans.

He even goes as far as getting transportation for him with that forced smile of his.

OH MY GOD LYSANDRE YOU HAVE THE LOOK OF MURDER. It’s pretty evident that Lysandre knows the champion is sketchy and faking it as well. After all, they’re pretty alike.

“Who will love you now, Dumbledore? You’re all alone.”