Chapter 203

Chapter 203: Chapter 203

While Mike went off to find appropriate filming positions, the professors gathered together to review the procedure once more, discussing possible outcomes and checking for anything they might have overlooked.

Several assistants began setting up instruments designed to monitor fluctuations in the Scyther’s internal energy, while Cynthia and Lucian remained nearby to keep watch over the surroundings.

Aaron had already gone through the overall plan the previous night, so instead of merely listening, he joined the discussion and contributed his own observations as a Bug specialist.

Mike, meanwhile, worked his way around the clearing until he found several useful camera angles.

He mounted the main cameras, equipped Gengar and Beedrill with their portable cameras, let Rotom settle into the Rotom Phone so it could follow him and record freely, and had Snivy operate the drone overhead.

By the time he finished, practically every direction around the experiment was covered.

Once all the cameras were arranged, Mike returned to the group and gave the professors a nod.

Roark opened the case containing the Black Augurite.

At Mike’s signal, he and Aaron each took one piece and walked toward one of the two Scyther.

Before proceeding, both men looked back toward Mike; Mike checked with the assistants and received an OK sign confirming that the monitoring equipment and cameras were ready, then nodded.

Roark and Aaron handed the Black Augurite to the two Scyther at the same time.

The moment the stones entered their hands, both Scyther stiffened slightly.

They could clearly sense a kind of energy inside the Black Augurite—something that instinctively felt as though it should belong to them and could somehow be used by their bodies—yet no matter how they held the stones, that energy remained inaccessible, almost as though there were an invisible barrier between them and what they needed.

The two Scyther cried out anxiously.

"Scy!"

Roark and Aaron stepped forward to watch them more closely.

Seconds passed, then nearly a full minute, but neither Scyther showed any sign of evolving.

Instead, they grew increasingly agitated, their wings buzzing as they repeatedly pressed the Black Augurite against their bodies and tried to figure out how to draw something from it.

"Professor, their emotional readings are fluctuating violently," one of the assistants reported.

Professor Rowan stepped over to the instrument and frowned at the graph.

"Mike, they’re becoming extremely agitated."

Aaron approached the two Scyther slowly.

Perhaps because he had spent so many years around Bug-types, he carried a familiar presence that made it easier for them to tolerate him, and after several quiet words and a little patience, the two hot-tempered Scyther gradually settled down.

"Let’s take the Black Augurite back for now," Mike said.

Aaron nodded and retrieved both pieces.

Professor Oak studied the Scyther for a moment. "So the most straightforward method doesn’t work."

Professor Sycamore, approaching the problem from the perspective of someone who had spent years studying Pokémon evolution, raised another possibility.

"Could it be something like Wyrdeer? Maybe Scyther needs to master a particular move before Black Augurite can trigger the evolution."

Mike shook his head. "As far as I know, Scyther doesn’t have an exclusive move tied to Kleavor’s evolution, but that idea is still worth keeping on the list. Since we’re already testing possibilities, we might as well go through every reasonable one."

Nobody objected.

Mike brought out some calming treats and gave them to the two Scyther, allowing them time to settle completely before the next stage began.

...

Once both Pokémon had recovered, Aaron stepped forward and spoke to them.

Whatever he said seemed to satisfy the two Scyther, because they both nodded.

Mike looked toward Cynthia.

Cynthia understood immediately and moved into position opposite Aaron, with Garchomp standing behind her and staring calmly at the two Scyther.

Aaron patted the Scyther beside him on the shoulder, praised it several times, then had it take Black Augurite with it into battle.

The purpose of the next test was simple: let the Scyther fight while carrying the stone, gain experience, and see whether the combination of battle and growth could trigger anything.

Garchomp treated the entire affair like playing with children.

She casually blocked or evaded the Scyther’s attacks, occasionally giving one a light counterattack whenever it needed encouragement to keep fighting.

As Sinnoh Champion Cynthia’s ace, she had already been used as a training dummy for Wyrdeer research not long ago, and now she was being asked to let Scyther beat on her as well.

Her dignity as a Champion’s ace was apparently becoming increasingly theoretical.

Eventually, after the final attack landed, Garchomp deliberately threw herself backward, smashed through a tree hard enough to snap the trunk, then closed her eyes and lay completely still.

’Damn it... I overdid the landing. That actually hurt.’

The Scyther stared at the mighty Garchomp it had apparently defeated, and its excitement surged instantly.

Everyone fixed their eyes on it, waiting for the slightest hint of change.

Nothing happened.

Several moments later, the assistants sighed and crossed the seventh proposed method from the list.

Garchomp climbed back to her feet, dusted herself off, and rolled her eyes.

Aaron returned the Black Augurite and brought the Scyther back to the group while several assistants immediately began checking its condition.

After a short examination, he frowned thoughtfully.

"Something did change for a moment just now, but it disappeared almost immediately."

Professor Rowan turned toward him. "What kind of change?"

Aaron searched for the right words. "It felt almost like... the beginning of evolution. But extremely faint. Just a tiny trace."

Mike walked over to the Scyther that had just fought, examined it himself, then gave it a Pokéblock as a reward before asking gently.

"Did you feel anything unusual just now?"

"Scy..."

Mike listened carefully.

[We can feel the energy you want us to use inside that stone, but we can’t absorb it. It feels like something is blocking it off from us.]

"The stone itself is causing the problem?"

The Scyther shook its head.

"Scy."

[Our bodies.]

Mike nodded slowly, rubbed his chin, and returned to the others before explaining what the Scyther had told him.

Lucian stared at him. "Mike, you can understand what Pokémon are saying?!" (There the reaction you looking for)

"A little."

Mike nodded as though it were nothing unusual.

The researchers were far less surprised.

Understanding Pokémon with absolute precision was difficult, but people who spent enough time with them often learned to interpret expressions, cries, posture, and habits well enough to understand the broad meaning of what they were trying to communicate.

Professor Sycamore immediately pulled out a notebook. "Could capture itself have something to do with it? Perhaps once these Scyther were caught, something about the energy inside their bodies became restricted."

He quickly wrote the idea down.

"If that’s true, there’s an entirely separate research question here—what exactly changes inside a Pokémon after capture, and what could be preventing these Scyther from accessing the energy required for evolution?"

For Sycamore, whose specialty was Pokémon evolution, the phenomenon was obviously worth investigating even if it ultimately had nothing to do with Kleavor.

Professor Oak looked toward the bamboo grove. "Then our next step should be trying this with wild Scyther. We can see whether the same problem occurs, and whether Mike’s suspicion is correct that captured individuals simply can’t complete this evolution under the same conditions."

Everyone agreed.

"We’ll still go through the same sequence," Oak continued. "First give Black Augurite directly to a wild Scyther and see whether that alone triggers anything. If not, we continue with the other methods."

The assistants recorded the plan.

Professor Sycamore looked toward the distant colony. "Which leaves one small problem. Someone has to communicate with those wild Scyther first."

"Who?"

Everyone turned toward Gengar.

Gengar: "..."

Mike nodded encouragingly. "Go on. Give it a try."

Gengar reluctantly floated toward the bamboo grove.

He hadn’t even reached the nearest Scyther when one suddenly sprang out of the grass, brandishing its scythes as it rushed him.

Gengar immediately rolled sideways to avoid the slash.

Before the Scyther could press the attack, Aaron’s Drapion burst from its Poké Ball and knocked it backward, forcing the rest of the colony into an even more guarded stance.

Gengar took one look at the Scyther now watching him from every direction, hesitated, then wisely retreated with Drapion back toward the group.

He shook his head.

"Gar—"

[No good. They’re way too wary.]

Roark looked toward the colony. "Couldn’t we just give them the Black Augurite directly?"

"That may actually be better," Professor Sycamore said. "We need an experiment either way. If we spend too much time trying to calm them first, they may simply leave before we observe anything."

"With Cynthia and Lucian here, they aren’t going anywhere," Aaron pointed out.

"That’s true, but the evolutionary process itself is important data," Professor Rowan replied. "Ideally, we observe it from close range rather than knock them unconscious and miss whatever happens."

Professor Oak scratched his head. "Or we could simply knock them out, tie them up, and bring them over."

Professor Rowan looked at him.

Oak smiled innocently.

"After all these years, you still solve everything by wanting to fight," Rowan said.

Mike had to suppress a laugh.

Professor Oak in real life was somehow even more entertaining than his game and anime counterpart.

"I can try."

Everyone looked at Mike.

"I have a pretty strong natural affinity with Bug-types. I don’t know whether it’ll work on a colony this defensive, but it might be worth testing."

Professor Rowan immediately shook his head. "No. That’s too dangerous."

"Don’t worry."

Mike looked toward Garchomp.

Cynthia smiled, and Garchomp moved to Mike’s side before accompanying him toward the Scyther colony.

The moment the wild Scyther noticed Mike approaching, several bodies blurred into motion as they prepared to attack.

Mike, however, carried no hostility whatsoever, and between his natural affinity with Bug-types and his affinity with Flying-types, something about his presence felt strangely familiar and harmless to them.

Before he had even fully reached the colony, the Scyther’s aggression began fading.

One after another, they slowly lowered their scythes.

A few even approached him on their own.

Mike reached out and cautiously rubbed one Scyther’s head.

The texture reminded him oddly of the praying mantises he had handled in his previous life: the surface of its head was smooth and cool beneath his palm, while the wings behind it had a slightly slick sheen.

He had just been about to say something when movement deeper inside the bamboo grove caught his eye.

Two Scyther were crouched beside an Egg, guarding it closely.

Compared with the others, both had noticeably smaller abdomens.

Mike suddenly understood.

No wonder this colony was so much more defensive than normal.

They weren’t simply hostile to outsiders—they were protecting the next generation of their group.

Mike turned toward the Scyther closest to him and rubbed its head a little more firmly.

The Pokémon’s expression softened, and for a fleeting moment the touch seemed to remind it of the comforting way its mother had patted it when it was young.

Its eyes slowly narrowed in contentment.

Mike’s confidence immediately rose.

Apparently his Pokémon-petting technique had reached another level.

If even a group of highly vigilant wild Scyther could be won over this easily, perhaps there really wasn’t a Pokémon alive he couldn’t eventually charm.

Not far away, Aaron stood completely frozen as he watched the Bug-types gradually gather around Mike.

He stared at Mike.

Then at the Scyther.

Then back at Mike.

Finally, the Bug-type Elite Four member could no longer contain himself.

"Wait a damn minute—are you the Bug-type Elite Four member, or am I?!"

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