Chapter 102
"So this is the result so far professor. I have definitely proved this Nature Table and Berry Chart according to these findings. Of course, with this result being only for Pidgey, hence there may be doubts. So I would like to spend another 2 months running the same experiment on Rattata. If the Nature Table and the Berry Chart holds true, this segment of research is officially done Professor" said Alex.
'Is there anything else left over from the project?" asked the Professor.
"I have mentioned that I had observed a few isolated cases of the Nature of the Pokemon changing. I couldn't pin point the causes of the Nature changing, as I had not had the Pokemon with the changes in Nature under observation. But I believe if I used a few Pokemon and run different experiments on them, I could narrow down the conditions or reasons for the change in Nature" replied Alex.
It had been close to 6 months since he had started on this research project. Even though he knew the Nature Table and Berry Chart by heart, he took each step of the experiment one at a time to prevent suspicion, and allow the logs to reflect the monstrous undertaking it was.
Alex's Magneton was at the Elite bottleneck, at level 49. But its training was still at 80%. Hence, its evolution level was 60 according to Alex.
Charmeleon had broken the previous bottleneck and was at level 42, and also 80% training. Alex figured it would reach the bottleneck at level 49 in another 10 months or so, and after letting it accumulate for a while, he could evolve it and directly make Charizard and an Elite level Pokemon. He would also be ready to get started on his journey by then. Lapras was at level 39, but it could break this bottleneck any time now.
Meanwhile, Happiny had improved to level 19, barely reaching the first Novice bottleneck after 6 whole months. This was quite slow for a novice Pokemon. This was because he had been suppressing it using a method he got from the Joy Clan, to compress energy wildly during the Happiny stage. This would allow it to soar by leaps and bounds when it evolved to Chansey. Case and point, his Happiny was at 100% training at merely level 19, which meant that he could theoretically allow Happiny to evolve anytime. But he decided to put it off, and evolve it when he was about to set off on his journey. That was because Chansey had less utility here in Oak Corall where there were excellent healing facilities and training rooms. And he could keep using this compression method until the next bottleneck, that is level 29 according to the information he had received. He had also grown very close to Happiny over the past 6 months.
Amelie really kept in touch with Alex as Professor Oak predicted. She would ask questions, send some gossip, and generally stay in touch. But she limited her proactive messages and questions enough to not cause any irritation to Alex.
Alex also asked her about how to cultivate Happiny, while updating her with any noteworthy happenings.
After his meeting with Professor Oak, Alex decided to go home to turn in for the day.
He checked his messages and replied to a few of them.
Joseph had gotten 6 Gym Badges, and that was only because he hadn't attempted any Gym challenges in a year to take some rest. He was a rather well off Flying type expert, with a team of Charizard, Honckrow, Pidgeot, Doudrio, Fearow, and the Crobat, which Professor Oak returned to him after his 4th Gym badge.
Roger was running Cherry Grove, which had by now expanded to 3 buildings, with over 200 children, thanks to the generous funding by him and some by Joseph.
Jack and Lily were doing well in the academies they had chosen. They stayed in contact with Roger, even though they drifted apart from Alex and Joseph.
When he was checking his messages, he saw a new text from Amelie. He had gradually grown familiar with Amelie and frequently had casual chats with her.
"Hey Alex! I just heard that your father completed his big project!" came the text.
Alex was surprised. While it was not unknown to him that there were spies in the Oak Corall planted by hostile parties, he was surprised at the speed at which the news travelled. He had just submitted the report to Professor Oak, and already the Joy Clan had gotten wind of it. And the Joy Clan definitely wasn't the initial source of the news, and they most likely heard it from some other party.
"Where did you hear that?" texted Alex.
"It's all over the gossip and news sites. The Pidgeot colony living in the specially designated area for your father's research were all released. Many people in Pallet Town apparently saw it" texted Amelie in reply.
"Oh. I hadn't considered that" thought Alex. While Pallet Town was semi-isolated and extremely selective of its residents, there was nothing that prevented them from sharing gossip with the outside. Considering that many people saw the enormous flock of Pidgeot that took off some time ago, it wasn't surprising that some people saw and gossiped.
"It's not complete yet apparently. But the first stage is. Now, the plan is to confirm if the same results found apply to a different species, like Rattata for example. If they do, the project will be considered completed and subsequently published" texted Alex.
Alex figured that the news of the Oak Corall gathering Rattata could not be kept a secret. He might as well as tell it to the Joy Clan through Amelie. She was always a decent source of information, considering she had the network of the Joy clan, which had strong roots in every city. Getting her to be grateful to him was advantageous.
"What is the project about? Both your father and Professor Oak have been secretive about it. Now that it's completed can you tell me? You were helping them with the project right?" asked Amelie.