Chapter 204

Chapter 204: Chapter 204

Nobody answered Aaron’s question.

Instead, everyone continued staring at Mike, waiting to see what he would do.

Mike gave them a small nod before sitting down directly on the ground.

Gengar immediately pulled out some Poffins and began sharing them with the surrounding Scyther, and it took almost no time at all before the entire group had accepted him as one of their own.

Apparently, friendship between guys really could be established that easily.

Mike turned his attention toward the leader of the Scyther colony and put on his most persuasive expression.

"Young man, would you like to obtain even greater power? Would you like the strength to protect those you care about? Would you like to conquer the world?"

The Scyther leader had been staring at the Poffin in its hands, but at that, it raised its head and looked curiously at Mike.

"Scy?"

[Greater power? You mean evolving into Scizor?]

As if to prove it already knew what Mike was talking about, Scyther produced a Metal Coat and offered it to him.

Mike stared blankly at the item now sitting in his hands.

{Metal Coat: A special metallic coating. When held, it strengthens Steel-type moves and appears capable of triggering specific Pokémon evolutions.}

{Compatible Pokémon: Scyther, Onix.}

"You actually have a Metal Coat?"

Mike looked genuinely surprised, then shook his head and returned it.

"That isn’t what I meant. I’m not talking about Scizor. I mean another kind of power—an evolutionary path that your ancestors once possessed, completely different from Scizor."

The Scyther leader narrowed its eyes suspiciously.

"Scy?"

[I’m not stupid. Don’t try to trick me!]

Mike: "..."

He turned toward the Rotom Phone floating beside him.

"Rotom, pull up the video of Stantler evolving into Wyrdeer."

There was an awkward pause.

"...What is a Wyrdeer, Roto?"

Mike slowly looked up at the Rotom Phone hovering over his head and fell silent.

"You haven’t looked through the records stored on my phone?"

"I am an honest and upright Rotom, Roto."

Rotom answered with absolute righteousness.

Mike stared at it.

"You seriously think I believe that? You spend half your life peeking at my screen like I don’t notice."

Rotom: [Awkward.jpg]

Mike grabbed the phone himself, opened the photo album, found the footage of Stantler evolving into Wyrdeer, and played it in front of the Scyther leader.

The moment Scyther watched an ordinary Stantler transform into a Pokémon form it had never seen or heard of before, its suspicion gradually disappeared.

It became completely silent, and somewhere deep inside its body, an instinct buried within its blood seemed to stir in response to what it was seeing.

"Scy?"

[You mean... I might be able to do something like that too?]

"I don’t know for certain," Mike admitted. "But we can try. The only condition is that you need to cooperate with our research."

Scyther stared at Mike for quite some time.

Between Mike’s natural affinity with Bug-types and his affinity with Flying-types, it could clearly sense that the human standing before it bore no hostility toward it or its colony.

After hesitating, the leader finally nodded, though its answer came with a condition of its own.

"Scy."

[Fine. I’ll cooperate, but start with me. Don’t involve the rest of my colony unless I decide it’s safe. I want to verify it personally.]

"I understand."

Mike patted its shoulder.

"No one here is going to force your clan to do anything they hate."

The Scyther leader tossed the remaining Poffin into its mouth, rose to its feet, and extended one of its scythes toward Mike.

Mike grabbed the flat side and used it to pull himself upright, then returned to the others with Scyther following beside him.

Professor Sycamore immediately looked over.

"It agreed?"

Mike nodded.

"Yeah. It wants us to test the process on it first, and afterward we’re not allowed to interfere with the freedom of the rest of its colony."

He glanced back toward the bamboo grove.

"The reason they’ve been so wary of outsiders is because there are Eggs belonging to their colony hidden deeper inside the grove."

That explained everything.

Professor Sycamore and Professor Oak both nodded in understanding.

They had no intention of forcing an entire wild colony into experiments anyway; as long as they could verify the evolutionary process and collect reliable data, that would already be enough to proceed with further research under controlled conditions.

Several research assistants immediately moved into action.

Monitoring equipment was fitted around the Scyther leader so they could track its physical condition, internal energy fluctuations, and any changes that occurred during the experiment.

"All readings normal," one assistant reported.

Mike reached into the case and carefully took out a piece of Black Augurite. Holding it out in both hands, he looked straight at the Scyther leader.

"Ready?"

Scyther nodded and accepted the stone.

The moment Black Augurite touched its body, Scyther stiffened.

A strange current of energy began flowing through it.

That energy gathered toward the hand holding the stone, and the Black Augurite responded as though something inside Scyther had finally opened a path for it. ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The stone began to change.

Before everyone’s eyes, the Black Augurite almost seemed to liquefy, turning into a flowing mass of dark mineral energy that seeped directly into Scyther’s body.

Every person present held their breath.

Even Professor Sycamore’s eyes widened in disbelief.

The energy entered Scyther’s body and began spreading through its veins, but instead of simply adding itself to the Pokémon’s existing power, it seemed to tear apart and restructure part of the energy already inside it.

The two different forces collided, merged, and gradually transformed into something far more ancient.

Scyther suddenly let out a low cry.

"Scy...!"

Its entire body began trembling.

The awakening of that dormant power was accompanied by intense pain, and Scyther clenched its jaws as every muscle in its body spasmed.

"Professor!" one assistant called out while watching the instruments. "We’re detecting an extremely faint Rock-type energy signature inside its body!"

Another assistant immediately followed. "Its bloodline readings are changing too!"

Mike’s expression tightened.

"What kind of change?"

The Scyther leader shook its head before anyone could rush forward, signaling that it was still all right.

As the strange energy continued circulating through its body, the pain gradually faded.

Scyther straightened, shook the sweat from its body, and looked toward Mike.

It nodded once.

Then light appeared beneath its skin.

Everyone instantly recognized it.

The light of evolution.

Snivy, Beedrill, Glameow, Hatenna, and the others gathered around, while every camera—Mike’s main camera, the portable cameras, Rotom’s footage, and the drone overhead—turned toward the evolving Scyther.

Blue-white radiance swallowed its entire body.

Within the light, the shape of its scythes began changing, broadening and becoming heavier until they resembled enormous stone axes.

At the same time, its posture lowered and its overall silhouette became bulkier and more solid.

"KLAAH!"

A deep, rough roar reverberated through the clearing.

The light disappeared.

Standing before them was a Pokémon none of the modern researchers had ever witnessed with their own eyes.

Kleavor.

With that, another evolutionary form once known in the Hisui era had returned to the modern world!

Compared with Scyther, Kleavor had lost much of its ability to fly, and large portions of its body had transformed into stone-like structures.

Sections of its body carried yellowish mineral coloration, while the massive axes on its forearms, its claws, shoulders, and the rough "facial hair" around its head were formed from darker brown stone.

Two pairs of extremely short wings remained on its back, while the rest of its body carried pale coloration that, combined with the enormous stone axes, gave it the imposing appearance of an ancient warrior.

Standing at roughly a meter and a half tall with those huge stone axes hanging from its arms, Kleavor looked intimidating enough that most ordinary people would instinctively keep their distance.

A flash of red light appeared nearby as Lucian released Wyrdeer.

The two Pokémon looked at one another.

Wyrdeer gave Kleavor a slow nod, almost as though welcoming another remnant of ancient Hisui back into the modern age.

Kleavor responded by lightly knocking its stone axes together.

Then Wyrdeer calmly returned to Lucian’s side.

Kleavor lowered its gaze toward its own body and felt the newly awakened power running through it.

’He wasn’t lying.’

’I really did become stronger.’

Roark clenched both of his fists in excitement while Professor Rowan and Professor Oak exchanged satisfied smiles.