Chapter 216

Chapter 216: Chapter 216

The three of them eventually entered a reception lounge, where Professor Carolina and Professor Kukui were already seated on a sofa.

After exchanging greetings, Mike and Lucian sat down as well.

The material Professor Kukui had prepared for his presentation was sitting on the table.

Mike gave it a quick glance.

The title was:

"The Relationship Between Pokémon Signature Moves and Bloodlines."

"Huh? Your topic is the relationship between signature moves and bloodlines?" Mike asked in surprise.

"I thought you’d be talking specifically about the signature moves of Hisuian Pokémon."

"That was actually what inspired this topic," Professor Kukui explained. "Originally, I was studying the relationship between signature moves and ordinary moves."

"After helping Wyrdeer relearn and master Psyshield Bash, I incorporated what I discovered into the research and developed an entirely new topic from it."

"Can I take a look?"

"Of course."

Kukui readily handed the report over.

After all, he would be presenting it publicly soon anyway.

Mike began reading.

He had to admit that Professor Kukui absolutely lived up to his reputation as a professional Pokémon researcher.

The report was exceptionally well written.

Near the end, Kukui raised a number of intriguing questions.

Had every Pokémon species once possessed its own signature move?

Were some of the moves considered ordinary today originally the exclusive techniques of particular species?

Mike skimmed through the report and found himself genuinely impressed by Kukui’s professionalism.

As a veteran Pokémon player, Mike knew countless obscure facts and bits of trivia that ordinary people in this world had never encountered, so his knowledge in certain areas was extraordinarily deep.

The problem was that he also had enormous gaps in basic, conventional knowledge.

"Professor Kukui’s report has a very good chance of earning a Gold Award this time," Professor Carolina said seriously, resting both hands on the head of her cane.

"A Gold Award?" Mike repeated.

"That’s right. At every summit, several of the most outstanding research projects are selected and awarded Gold Awards."

Professor Carolina continued, "I spoke with Professor Kukui earlier, and his research has considerable potential for further study. The appearance of Wyrdeer has also provided him with extremely valuable concrete results."

"If nothing even more significant appears at this summit, there’s a very good chance this topic will receive a Gold Award."

"Um... are Gold Awards difficult to get?" Mike asked rather timidly.

Professor Carolina shot him a look.

"What do you think?!"

"Receiving a Gold Award means that your research has earned widespread recognition. It can even allow you to apply for a dedicated research project afterward and pursue the subject in greater depth. Gold Awards are also one of the standards used when evaluating scholars seeking promotion to the rank of Pokémon Professor."

"Oh... so that’s how it works."

Mike finally understood. Then he turned toward Lucian.

"Lucian, what’s your topic today?"

Lucian pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose.

"’How to Guide Psychic-type Pokémon in the Proper Use of Psychic Power and Awaken Potential Energy Hidden Within Their Bloodlines.’"

Mike stroked his chin.

"Just hearing the title makes it sound like you’re definitely not winning a Gold Award."

Lucian gave a humorless laugh.

"You think people can simply decide they want a Gold Award and receive one?"

"Every summit has countless participants. Some of these scholars bring research they’ve spent several years—or even a decade—preparing. How am I supposed to compete with that?"

"The only reason I can even participate this time is because of you. I wrote this report based on our success in helping Stantler evolve into Wyrdeer. I’m basically just going up there to make an appearance."

"You shouldn’t put it that way," Professor Carolina said. "Helping a Pokémon that had forgotten its species’ signature move relearn that technique is already an impressive achievement in itself."

"Although I’m not a Pokémon Trainer, even I understand how difficult something like that is. Going from one to two is simple enough, but how many people have been defeated by the challenge of going from zero to one? I expect your report will achieve a respectable result."

"Thank you. I’ll take that blessing."

Lucian visibly seemed more confident after hearing her assessment.

Finally, Mike turned toward Cynthia.

"Cynthia, what’s your topic?"

Cynthia took a report from her bag and handed it over.

Mike accepted it and read the title.

"An Analysis of Legendary Pokémon in the Hisui and Sinnoh Eras."

He flipped through the report.

The opening sections seemed normal enough, but the farther he read, the more strangely familiar the formatting began to feel.

"That’s weird... why does the formatting and layout look so familiar?"

The words had barely left Mike’s mouth when a fair-skinned hand reached over and snatched the report back out of Mike’s hands.

Cynthia calmly slipped it into her bag. "I won’t disappoint you!"

Lucian quietly raised his coffee and took another sip.

Mike looked between Cynthia and Lucian, unable to shake the feeling that something about the two of them was slightly off.

"What about your report?" Professor Carolina asked from the side.

She was quite curious about what subject Mike had chosen.

Mike took out the report that Professor Rowan and Professor Oak had helped him revise and handed it to her.

Professor Carolina accepted the thick stack of papers and glanced at the title.

"The Reemergence of Pokémon from the Hisui Era."

The title itself was remarkably simple, but Professor Carolina didn’t even need to open the report to know just how complicated and extensive the material inside would be.

She looked at Mike again and silently admitted that she might have misjudged him.

He had actually managed to produce a report of this quality.

Barring any surprises, one of this year’s Gold Awards was almost certainly going to have his name on it.

The competition for the Gold Awards this year was shaping up to be far fiercer than usual.

Of course, what had actually happened was that Mike had handed Professor Rowan his outline, and Rowan had helped him turn it into a proper academic report.

While helping Mike refine it, even Professor Rowan had repeatedly been stunned by some of the bizarre pieces of knowledge Mike seemed to possess.

He quickly realized that Mike often worked backward—he somehow knew the answer first, then tried to reconstruct the reasoning that should lead to it.

That was an absolutely terrible approach to academic research.

The infuriating part was that Mike’s conclusions kept turning out to be correct.

Professor Rowan had suffered through the process until he finally dragged Professor Oak into helping him.

Between the two of them, they polished Mike’s report into a presentable academic work and converted many of his more casual explanations into proper technical terminology.

...

Outside the reception lounge, in one of the offices, Professor Oak placed the list in his hands on the desk and rubbed his forehead.

"I didn’t expect this year’s presentations to contain so many promising results."

"Neither did I. It looks like everyone has made some major breakthroughs over the past few years." Professor Rowan nodded.

"It’s a shame my own project still isn’t finished. Otherwise, I probably would’ve taken another shot at the summit this year myself."

Although Rowan and Oak were among the organizers of the academic summit and were also serving as judges this year, their laboratories could still participate in the presentations.

They simply entered under the names of their respective research institutes.

In practice, it was usually the assistants and researchers from those institutes who presented the actual results, while Rowan and Oak merely had their names attached to the work.

At their level, the two professors practically represented Pokémon academia itself.

Honors and awards no longer held much meaning for them.

With their expertise, either of them was obviously capable of producing research worthy of the summit’s most prestigious Gold Awards.

However, neither wanted the academic summit to fall back into a system dominated by entrenched academic circles, so they had deliberately stepped aside and left those opportunities to others.

"I’m already looking forward to the presentations over the next few days," Professor Oak said with a smile.

The summit’s presentations were normally spread across three days.

There were simply too many research topics to fit into a shorter schedule, and every scholar needed enough time to properly explain their work.

Professor Rowan ran his eyes down the list on the desk.

"Bill’s Team: Improvements to the Pokémon Storage System. Members: Bill, Researcher A, Researcher B..."

"Professor Elm’s Team: A Study of Commonalities Among Secondary Egg Groups in Pokémon Breeding. Members: Professor Elm, Researcher A, Researcher B..."

"Cynthia’s Team: An Analysis of Legendary Pokémon in the Hisui and Sinnoh Eras. Members: Cynthia, Mike..."

"Professor Kukui’s Team: The Influence of Bloodlines on Pokémon Signature Moves. Members: Professor Kukui, Mike..."

"Mike’s Team: The Reemergence of Pokémon from the Hisui Era. Members: Mike, Professor Oak, Professor Rowan..."

Professor Oak chuckled and shook his head.

"I really didn’t expect Mike to give us one more surprise at the end of all this. I have no idea where he keeps getting these conclusions from, but after we worked through the evidence ourselves, nearly all of them turned out to be correct."

"His attention to detail has always been unusual," Professor Rowan said, leaning back in his chair.

"He’s extremely good at noticing things that other people overlook. That’s probably part of the reason he was able to create The Wide World of Pokémon in the first place."

Rowan hesitated for a moment before asking, "Still, considering the quality of his report, there shouldn’t be any problem with him earning a Gold Award this time, right?"

"Don’t worry." Oak waved the concern away.

"We originally thought all we’d have to do was help the kid write his papers. Who would’ve guessed we’d end up polishing his final summit report too?"

Oak laughed.

"The amount of material he has is already enormous, and the content itself is extremely rich. Judging purely by substance, this report would’ve been more than enough to win a Gold Award at any of the previous summits."

"The competition may be stronger this year, and there are certainly more serious contenders, but don’t forget—we’re the ones who polished the final report. We know exactly what level it’s at."

"That’s true." Professor Rowan nodded, conceding the point.

"Now all we have to do is wait until this afternoon," Professor Oak continued. "What we really ought to start thinking about is what sort of title we should give Mike."

"Someone like him has an unusually deep understanding of Pokémon evolution, he knows moves extremely well, he’s familiar with myths and legends, and on top of that, he knows an incredible amount about the Hisui era..."

Hearing Oak list everything out like that, Professor Rowan found himself developing a headache too.