"Huh?"
Natsu murmured, his gaze falling on a green Pokémon next to Ash.
"Cocoon? Did Caterpie evolve?"
"Yeah, it evolved during the fight with Team Rocket just now."
Ash paused for a mont, then proudly scooped up the newly evolved tapod at his feet and presented it to Natsu.
Natsu didn't say anything, rely furrowed his brow slightly and held his Rotom Phone, aiming it at tapod.
**tapod, Level 6, Ability: Shed Skin.**
Sure enough, Natsu raised an eyebrow.
If he rembered correctly, Caterpie evolves into tapod at level 7, then into Butterfree at level 10.
Seeing Ash's unusually high-level tapod, Natsu's eyes lit up.
"System, is this tapod considered a special individual?"
** 1**
Feeling the extra coin added to his inventory, Natsu remained speechless.
"What's wrong, Natsu? Did sothing happen to tapod?"
Seeing Natsu silent after scanning tapod, the pride on Ash's face vanished, replaced by sincere concern.
"Did it get hurt in the battle just now?"
Misty also leaned in with a concerned expression. Though she disliked Bug-types, she couldn't ignore Caterpie and Ash's efforts.
"Nothing serious."
Natsu scratched his head and turned back to study the battle rule system in his mind.
Watching Natsu daydream as usual, Ash twitched at the corner of his mouth.
"It's getting late. Let's set up camp for the night; we should reach Viridian City by tomorrow."
Misty suggested.
"Sounds good!"
They busily started building a campfire and setting up sleeping bags, leaving Natsu standing vacant in the middle.
Naturally, it was because of a system notification.
*Ding!*
[SSS-Rank: Data Collection for Ga-Rule Adaptation to Real-World Combat]
[Notice] Today's data collection complete.
[Subject] Battle Arena
[Reward] Scratch Card ×1
[Cooldown] 23h
A daily task, perhaps?
After receiving the system ssage, Natsu snapped back to attention.
This so-called SSS-Rank long-term project required Natsu to use the Battle Rule Module to bring wild Pokémon or Trainers into a ga battle arena for one match.
Win or lose, he would receive a scratch card, but the gamified battle could only be used once per day.
"System, what's the purpose of collecting this data?"
Curious, Natsu asked.
As usual, the system did not reply.
Shrugging, he turned to see Ash and Misty had lit the campfire.
Two sleeping bags—one pink, one blue—were set up on either side, leaving a large open space in the middle, seemingly for him.
"Natsu, where's your sleeping bag? If you forgot, I've got a spare!"
Seeing Natsu, Ash waved and reached for the extra bag.
"No need."
Natsu tossed a small cube to the ground.
In the next mont, an inflatable tent expanded, filling the open space.
Ash and Misty exchanged looks of envy.
"Natsu, do you have more? I want one too."
Ash's eyes sparkled when he saw the inflatable tent and he imdiately tried to crawl inside, but three seconds later, he stepped back, expressionless.
Misty, equally curious, peeked into the tent but also stepped back after three seconds, expressionless.
"Tonight I'll be working on my thesis all night. If nothing's urgent, try not to bother ."
Natsu said, then entered the tent.
With Natsu gone, Misty buried her face in her hands and muttered in exasperation:
"Who sets up that many dissection models in their sleeping area? That's terrifying. I'd have nightmares for sure."
"If I were sleeping in there, I'd definitely have nightmares."
Ash shivered, feeling certain he wouldn't get much sleep tonight.
Night soon fell.
The forest was quiet.
Only the occasional chirp of insects blended with the crackling of the campfire, creating an oddly comforting sense of security.
*Pika, pika*
By the fire, Pikachu was fast asleep, muttering sothing incomprehensible.
Nearby, tapod sat on a log, silently staring at the sky.
The flickering firelight reflected off his green shell, and his small black eyes seed filled with endless wonder for the world above.
*Click.*
A faint sound of footsteps ca from behind—Natsu, holding sothing resembling a small blanket.
"Typical rookie mistake. Not enough travel experience—can't just leave Pokémon exposed like this."
Looking at the sleeping Pikachu and silent tapod, Natsu gently draped the blanket over them.
*Pi—*
Sensing sothing, Pikachu shifted and tugged at the blanket, burrowing deeper into sleep.
Natsu moved his gaze from Pikachu to tapod.
*Could a Pokémon's desire to evolve drive it to evolve ahead of its normal level?*
He quietly jotted the thought into his notebook.
The system didn't consider this pre-level-up tapod a special individual, indicating it was an objective fact.
In Natsu's experience, research on the link between evolution desire and early evolution was almost nonexistent.
As a Pokémon researcher under twenty with the privilege of having Professor Oak as his ntor, papers he hadn't read were practically unpublished.
He also recalled Dawn's Piplup in his past life, which could suppress its own evolution.
Natsu's gaze grew distant as he rembered the *Diamond & Pearl* arc.
Exploring this direction could yield publishable results in a special journal.
After all, to realize his *cha Rotom* project, he needed a lab where he could fully experint.
Such a *God-level* lab, along with a capable research team, required at least Pokémon Doctor-level credentials to get approval from the League.
To beco a Pokémon Doctor, two requirents had to be t: one, endorsent from another Doctor—which Natsu could get from Professor Oak; and two, five research papers accepted by special journals.
Currently, aside from his previous Rotom study published in a special journal, the rest had been rejected.
"Ah, step by step."
Yawning, Natsu returned to his small sleeping area.
The night passed quietly.
The next morning.
*Pika…pi—*
Pikachu's terrified shriek tore through the air, so full of panic that Ash awoke imdiately, sensing sothing was wrong.
"What's wrong, Pikachu?"
Ash jolted upright from his sleeping bag, turning toward Pikachu.
Wait—who covered Pikachu with a blanket?
No—it wasn't a blanket. It was a thick diagram.
A muscular and skeletal map of Pikachu.
Pikachu's terror ca from this very diagram, a brutal face-to-face shock first thing in the morning.
"Is this from Natsu's tent?"
Misty glanced over as well.
"What are you two kids arguing about? Ever heard of respecting your elders?"
Natsu, in his blue-and-white striped *pajamas*, ca out yelling.
Seeing Pikachu for a mont, he froze.
Right—he must have covered it with the wrong thing in the dark.
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