LRAB Chapter 87 The Light of Super Evolution
Chapter 87 The Light of Super Evolution
"In short, if this stone really is a Mega Evolution Stone, its price should be outrageously expensive." Hugo paused for a moment, doing some mental calculations, "Based on Rena's current hourly wage, it's roughly equivalent to four and a half years' worth of salary if you work without eating, drinking, or sleeping."
"So expensive!" The gardener looked flustered and quickly held the Super Stone in both hands, her mouth agape as if she could fit a pomelo inside.
The little doll, concerned, touched its trainer with the antennae on its ear, only breathing a sigh of relief after confirming the heart rate was still within a safe range. Come to think of it, the last time it saw its owner so excited was when it encountered Champion Cynthia in front of the Feathered Residence.
"Miss Rena, you said earlier that the doll would glow when it touches a stone. Is that true?" Azure, who was standing to the side, took on the role of guiding the question and asked carefully.
Rena scratched her short hair, looking troubled: "When the doll first touched the stone, it did glow, but after we tried it a few more times, it didn't react like it did at the beginning."
"This is troublesome," the detective sighed, crossing his arms. "If we can't confirm whether this is a Super Stone, we don't know what to do with it. It seems we'll have to ask an expert to identify it. I wonder if the owner of the Aloe Vera Pavilion in Qibao City has any expertise in this area..."
"Wait, I have a great idea!" Azure suddenly exclaimed excitedly.
Hugo looked at his assistant, puzzled: "Can you identify Mega Stones?"
“No need to identify it!” the assistant said, rummaging through her backpack. “Miss Rena, this almost-doll is your proud partner, right? You two must be very close, right?”
Rena was equally confused, but nodded nonetheless: "Almost was the first Pokémon I adopted. Although it often overreacts, it's very reliable. As for friendship, if even Almost doesn't like me, there probably isn't any Pokémon in the world that would be willing to be close to me."
Although the doll protested against the "overreaction," it clearly agreed with its owner and clung even closer to Rena.
The assistant was relieved.
"That makes things easier. As long as we can get this almost-perfect doll to successfully undergo a Mega Evolution, we can prove the authenticity of this item. Even if the bond isn't strong enough to evolve smoothly, it doesn't matter. As long as the unique evolution light of Mega Evolution appears during the process, it can still prove the authenticity of this Evolution Stone."
"Azure, you wouldn't happen to have one too..."
"Hmph!" The girl proudly took out a beautiful pendant from her bag, the gemstones inlaid in the pendant radiating a seven-colored light.
At the very center of the gemstone, there is also a spiral-shaped mark resembling a gene.
"What is this?" Rena, who was unfamiliar with the battle, was completely confused about the situation.
"This is the essential item for Mega Evolution—the Key Stone! The Key Stone resonates with the Mega Stone held by the Pokémon, causing the Pokémon to Mega Evolve!"
Azure, radiant and spirited, struck a cool pose, legs spread apart, holding the pendant horizontally in front of her with her thumb.
"Blastoise, Mega Evolve! — Just shout that, and your partner Pokémon will instantly and stylishly transform!"
Rena and the doll looked at the cool-looking assistant girl, then stared at each other, wide-eyed as if trying to ask each other if they understood, like two unlucky students who hadn't done their homework but wanted to copy the answers from each other.
"Ahem." The detective coughed twice, trying to restore the strange atmosphere to normal.
"Although Azure's method is a bit hard to understand, Mega Evolution is essentially something inexplicable, so there's no simpler way to teach it... Anyway, we can try Azure's identification method first; it won't take much effort."
The assistant lent Rena her beloved keychain, and then eagerly awaited her and her partner, the doll, to perform their evolution.
"I didn't expect you to be so familiar with super evolution." The girl sat back down on the sofa and gestured towards the detective with her chin.
"Same to you," the detective chuckled. Who doesn't have a few stories from the past?
The gardener hung the keychain around her neck, mustering her energy to prepare to command her partner to evolve as Azure had instructed. However, at this moment, how to carry the Mega Stone onto Almostyto became another problem.
After discussing for a while, they finally adopted a simple and crude detective's solution: they used two wide strips of transparent tape to stick the Super Stone onto the doll's beige belly.
"Three, two, one! Begin evolution!" Azure commanded excitedly, seemingly having a lot of fun.
Hugo, standing beside her, was lost in thought, feeling that the events unfolding before him were too coincidental; the detective's radar for deception was already picking up.
If this Mega Stone is real, why was it abandoned by the roadside? To date, no Mega Stone ore has ever been discovered in the Unova region. Where did this stone, which suddenly appeared by the roadside, come from?
"Almost there, doll!" Rena, her face flushed, raised the keystone pendant high into the air and shouted in a desperate manner, "Super-evolution!"
"Indeed, for normal people, this kind of behavior is still too shameful," the detective commented, nodding.
The assistant glared at the detective and said, "Who isn't a normal person?!"
However, the two who had been exchanging glances were suddenly stunned, because an unusually dazzling white light began to emanate from the room.
"It...it actually started Mega Evolution! Hugo, that Mega Stone is real!"
Seven-colored rays of light rose from the Evolution Key Stone in Rena's hand and connected to Almost Doll.
With a burst of dazzling light, the doll's shape underwent visible changes.
First, its body grew larger, then its pink fur began to turn snow-white, and its body hair began to grow more, covering almost the entire doll like a nurse's uniform. Its blue eyes turned pomegranate red, and a clump of white, foamy, creamy down grew on its chest.
"Ta-bu!"
As the orb of light dissipated, the new form of the almost-doll gradually stabilized and greeted everyone with great energy.
"It actually succeeded on the first try..." Seeing the experiment succeed, Azure looked quite dejected. "Blister Turtle and I tried several times before we succeeded..."
The person most surprised at the scene was Rena herself, who was not good at Pokémon battles and had never heard of Mega Evolution before.
Faced with this scene, she couldn't help but run up to the Super Almost Doll, touching and hugging it repeatedly, asking, "Are you really Almost Doll? Do you remember me?"
The Super-Small Doll heard its owner's rapidly rising heart rate due to excitement, broke free from its trainer's embrace, and condensed a ball of pink "healing energy" in its hands, which it then launched at its owner.
The fluctuations transformed into points of light and merged into the trainer's body, allowing Rena to calm down slightly. However, she still couldn't help stroking her partner's now snow-white and smooth fur, muttering, "So cute and beautiful! The fur feels even softer now, I want to hold it forever..."
"Miss Rena, Mega Evolution has a time limit. If you don't want your Pokémon to consume too much energy, it's best to let the Pokémon return to its normal state first," Azure reminded her, recovering from her frustration.
"It's not a permanent change? Oh dear, I was just thinking of ordering a new set of furniture for the doll. By the way, how do I change it back?"
"Hmm... relax, and then shout 'Release' or something?" Azure gave vague instructions.
"Release! Release!! Release!!!" The gardener shouted three times with all her might, but her partner remained standing blankly in the reception room of Yuxi Residence, her posture unchanged.
"Isn't this completely useless?!" Rena shouted helplessly at Azure.
"There's no need for that."
Hugo walked over to the Almost Doll and ripped off the transparent tape stuck to its belly with a ripping sound. The Mega Stone that was originally held in place by the tape fell into the detective's hands.
The connection between the Mega Stone and the Pokémon was forcibly severed, and the Pokémon reverted to its original state.
"Pokémon that are skilled at using Mega Stones can firmly attach them to themselves through energy link, and can even resist attacks from the 'Knock Off' move. However, this Almost-Doll isn't a battle-focused Pokémon, and this is its first time undoing its Mega Evolution, so it hasn't mastered this technique yet."
Hugo casually explained as he tossed the Mega Stone in his hand, but this only drew a retort from Azure—
"Are you sure it wasn't some inexplicable unlucky constitution that forced the super evolution back?"
The detective was speechless for a moment.