"Sat- Boss, a-are we really taking it with us on this journey?" Mark hid behind Joseph, cautiously asking Sato.
"Pretty much." Sato casually replied while wiping a Poké Ball.
At Sato's feet, Ralts was staring at Mark expressionlessly.
Even though its red and black eyes were hidden by its bangs, Mark could clearly feel that Ralts was staring right at him.
'Ugh, so scary...'
At this mont, Ralts looked mostly the sa as before. From the front, the only noticeable change was that its horn was a bit redder, and the black spots on its body were gone.
But if one circled around to its back, they'd find a large black mark covering most of it.
Clearly, the black spots hadn't vanished. They had rely gathered into one place, making Ralts look less "grotesque".
Thinking back to what had happened yesterday, Sato still felt a bit incredulous. He had intended to absorb the Dark Energy from Ralts, hoping it might save it...
But things turned out to be far more complicated than he expected.
First off, Ralts absorbed the Dark Energy at a very... very coincidental ti. Right during a key mont in its evolution.
Although Ralts was capable of controlling its own evolution and de-evolution, evolution itself fundantally involved igniting its stored energy -accumulated through experiences and battles, or even a mont of emotional shock, or reaching a personal limit-, while also absorbing external energy to support the transformation.
The most obvious examples were Pokémon that used Evolutionary Items. Those were classic cases of needing to absorb specific external energy to evolve.
But that didn't an they didn't also need to accumulate internal energy.
Likewise, Pokémon that evolved without items would also absorb external energy during their evolution process.
The only difference between the two was how much each path relied on internal versus external energy.
And at the exact mont when Ralts was evolving, Sato had forcibly "injected" it with Dark Energy. Energy that was then naturally used by Ralts's body to aid its evolution.
Predictably, it failed halfway through the evolution!
Ralts's evolution was forcefully interrupted, but the Dark Energy had already established a partial link with its body, making it not so easy to remove.
Even more troubleso was that Ralts originally possessed the dual Psychic/Fairy types, while Dark-type energy happened to be super effective against Psychic but weak against Fairy.
After the interrupted evolution, the three types of energy began to clash inside Ralts, fighting endlessly, with none willing to back down. This went on for quite so ti.
It wasn't until Sato tried to use his Dark Energy to help Ralts that things started to shift.
When Sato placed his Dark Energy-infused right hand on Ralts's body, Ralts clearly felt a mont of stillness among the three conflicting energies within.
Whether it was the Psychic energy, which was completely countered by the Dark Energy, or the mysterious Fairy energy that even Ralts didn't fully understand; both seed wary of the Dark Energy.
In that mont, the three energies coexisted peacefully, without interference.
It lasted only a second or two, but it was the most peaceful mont Ralts had experienced since the failed evolution.
Unfortunately, it didn't last. Once Sato made contact with the Dark Energy and had it begin acting, the other two energies reacted like startled Skitty and went into a violent frenzy.
Ralts, overwheld by the pain, finally gave up its pride in that mont and chose to seek help from Sato.
It realized that as long as it stayed near the Dark Energy, the three types of energy inside its body would cease their conflict, giving it a mont to breathe.
In other words, Ralts had to stay close to Sato at all tis to be free from pain.
This fact was difficult not only for Ralts to accept. But even Sato found it hard to respond.
In the end, Ralts, wanting to survive, chose to compromise. As for Sato, he complicatedly accepted this super clingy tagalong.
"What are you planning to do next?"
Inside the infirmary, human and Pokémon faced each other in silence until Sato finally spoke up.
Ralts tilted its head slightly, its red-and-black eyes peeking out from under its bangs... looking a bit lost.
In its current condition, even Ralts had no idea what to do. It now deeply regretted sneaking out of the Seafloor Cavern driven by curiosity.
It hadn't even had ti to appreciate the vibrant and colorful world above before being forcibly bound to Sato.
And the worst part was... it had pretty much brought all of this on itself.
Seeing Ralts shift between confusion, anger, frustration, and resentnt, Sato decided not to question it anymore.
He had already realized that telepathy only worked once it evolved into its final form, Gardevoir.
There was no point in asking now.
---
The three of them were preparing to leave Mossdeep City. Upon hearing the news, Steven ca personally to see them off and even had a private ferry to take them to their next destination.
"That's it then... we're off!" On the deck, Sato and the others waved goodbye to Steven.
"See you next ti!" Steven waved back.
As the ferry slowly pulled away from the port, Sato noticed that Ralts had been hiding behind him the entire ti since Steven arrived.
Thinking back, Ralts had followed them out of the Seafloor Cavern but never showed itself on the submarine. It seed it had intentionally avoided Steven.
But why?
Sato pondered for a while but couldn't figure it out, so he didn't dwell on it and turned to head inside the ship's cabin.
Ralts followed closely behind him, step by step, looking so pitiful that it hardly seed like a Pokémon capable of unleashing Elite Four-level power.
Still, Ralts probably wouldn't dare to evolve easily now, Sato thought quietly, feeling it was a bit of a sha.
Inside the cabin, Pichu was joyfully chasing Umbreon around, causing a complete ss with everything in chaos.
Believe it or not, Umbreon -fearless of everything and always clingy toward Sato- was deathly afraid when Pichu tried to be clingy with it, and kept running away.
When Sato entered, both Umbreon and Pichu leapt toward him. But as soon as Umbreon saw Pichu's movent, it froze mid-leap and flopped to the ground looking utterly wronged.
Sato caught the airborne Pichu securely, then crouched down and affectionately scratched Umbreon's head, making it squint with pleasure.
"Ral~"
Suddenly, Ralts let out a dismissive snort, seemingly mocking Umbreon's shaless behavior.
"Umbre!"
Umbreon exploded on the spot, crouching low and glaring fiercely at Ralts, clearly ready to fight at the slightest provocation.
"Pi~chu!"
Pichu wasn't happy either. It truly loved Umbreon's good looks... which matched its own.
These two. One overconfident in its own strength, the other a fearless little cub.
"Ral..."
"Ralts!" Sato cut Ralts off, his eyes coldly locking onto it.
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