Chapter 149: Evolution and Degeneration of Pokémon
Although he looks very serious, when you really get to know him, you will find that Dr. Yamanashi is just an ordinary old man who loves sweets.
The other party's peaceful coexistence and getting along with Xiao Xiannai at the speed of light have greatly saved Zhou You from the disastrous impression left by his unreliable ancestor.
After releasing Eden, Arthur, Leftovers, and Xiao Xiannai from the Poké Ball and letting them play freely in the research institute, Zhou You spent some time to understand Dr. Yamanashi's research.
"Evolution" is a mysterious phenomenon that may occur in many Pokémon during their growth. Under certain conditions, they will change into another creature.
After this phenomenon occurs, not only physical changes will occur, but also known moves, racial abilities, and even attributes may undergo earth-shaking changes.
From the perspective of modern science, the "evolution" of Pokémon may actually be closer to a kind of "perversion".
According to Dr. Yamanashi's research and concepts, more than 90% of the elves in the world are related to evolution, so he speculates that "evolution" may be a form of Pokémon maturing.
That being said, not all Pokémon with evolution chains can necessarily evolve to their final form.
Take Magikarp, which is widely found in lakes and water bodies, for example. On the contrary, Pokémon in nature usually have difficulty in obtaining stable evolution. Predation, self-defense, and territory management have already occupied most of their time.
Only Pokémon that live together with humans and have all conditions met are more likely to evolve.
"Evolution often begins with a strong bond with humans or the Pokémon's own eagerness to become stronger."
↑From the 2nd episode of the DP Collection, which is also the main view of scholars today.
However, the evolution of Pokémon has always been a phenomenon that humans have not yet understood, and even many of the evolutionary conditions summarized by people still contain many inaccurate speculations.
For example:
As we all know, Pokémon such as Gengar evolved from Haunter's communication exchange.
However, in fact, people occasionally find that there are actually a certain number of wild Gengar in the wild. They are not the existence that was evolved by trainers and then released, but the product of natural evolution.
For example, in the human concept, there are two ways for Milotic to evolve, namely using energy cubes to increase charm and carrying beautiful scales to communicate and evolve. However, in nature, there are wild Milotic that are insulated from energy cubes and cannot exchange.
Or although the data shows that Eevee can only evolve into Leafeon and Glaceon when it grows near mossy rocks and ice rocks in certain areas, in fact, there are trainers who have successfully evolved their Eevee using Leaf Stone and Ice Stone under extremely rare circumstances.
In addition, wild Pixie, Windy Dog, Aledo, Snow Queen and other Pokémon that need Evolution Stones to evolve are occasionally witnessed.
Although some of them are the result of accidentally obtaining Evolution Stones, some are the evolution obtained through self-cultivation after a long life...
Perhaps, Evolution Stones and other evolution props in the eyes of humans are actually just something like "catalysts".
The more he studies the mysterious phenomenon of evolution, the more Dr. Yamanashi marvels at the magic of life as Pokémon.
Evolution, which is supposedly irreversible in the eyes of humans, has even been reversed under extremely special circumstances - witnesses of degeneration.
In the distant past, there was a legend that a Pixie evolved into a Pixie and then degenerated back to a Pixie.
※ "Happy Festival"
In the distant Alola region, it is said that there is a young trainer who has a special Rock Dog that can repeatedly advance/degenerate and switch between different forms of Rock Wolf.
※ "Horizon"
Even in the legends of Pokémon themselves, there is a legendary item called "Binding Scarf" that can temporarily evolve them into their final form for a short period of time.
※ "Super Mysterious Dungeon"
Evolution and degeneration, this miraculous phenomenon surrounding Pokémon has fascinated people since ancient times, and countless people have devoted themselves to this problem that can never be completely solved.
Dr. Yamanashi is one of them.
In the past few decades, he has studied more than a dozen new evolutions of Pokémon that were originally judged to be impossible to evolve.
In recent years, Dr. Yamanashi has begun to turn his attention to those legendary Pokémon - do legendary Pokémon also have an evolutionary chain?
If "evolution" means incompleteness, then does the legendary Pokémon that is close to perfection have no new evolutionary possibilities? Do they have an intermediate stage before evolution?
No one can answer Dr. Yamanashi. The reason why legendary Pokémon are called "legends" is because they have almost never been captured by humans.
Without samples, or only isolated evidence, it is of no value to talk about "legendary Pokémon".
However, Zhou You's arrival has brought new hope to Dr. Yamanashi's research.
"Hmm, so the fact is really as Dr. Oak said, you captured Articuno not long ago?" When talking about the research on legendary Pokémon, Dr. Yamanashi suddenly changed the subject, "Can you let it out and let me take a look?"
"Of course, that's no problem, but..."
My Articuno was killed by a giant hornet not long ago and got depression.
Zhou You sighed. Although the Phoenix Flame can easily heal all external injuries and diseases, it can't take care of the spirit and psychology of the elves.
However, he still released Articuno from the Poké Ball.
As always, the latter collapsed gracefully on the ground as soon as it came out, refusing to move.
It can only be said that it is worthy of being Articuno, even Ge You's collapse is so beautiful.
"It turns out that the legendary Pokémon, like ordinary elves, will suffer from depression due to inferiority complex." Dr. Yamanashi was amazed, "Can I touch it? It shouldn't attack humans casually, right?"
"Don't worry, it won't, it's too lazy to move." Zhou You explained.
Although Articuno would attack humans (such as Xiaozhi) manically before, it has now given up on itself and started to play badly.
"Hmm... This mental state is not conducive to its health and communication. Qiao Qiao, have you considered how to treat the depression of this Articuno?"
"I plan to let it fight more weak Pokémon with restraining attributes to slowly cultivate its self-confidence."
Zhou You thought about it and replied: "Then gradually let it fight with slightly stronger Pokémon to build up the confidence of Articuno. After all, it originally has powerful power. The reason why it was defeated tragically is just bad luck. Spending more time can always heal its psychological trauma."
After listening to Zhou You's ideas, Dr. Yamanashi suggested: "In this case, why not try to put Articuno in the research institute and let a team of professional Pokémon psychological counseling to heal it?"