Chapter 028

"That's right. Looks like your first Pokemon is Nidoking. Now, take a good look at Nidoking. It has been trained, and won't hurt you. After 10 minutes, I will start asking a question about this Nidoking" said the examiner and went back to staring at his clipboard.

Alex looked at the Nidoking and pulled up its stats.

Nidoking

Gender - Male

Lvl - 19

Type - Poison/Ground

Held item - None

Ability - Poison Point

Moves - Focus Energy, Tackle, Poison Sting, Double Kick, Megahorn, Leer, Toxic Spikes, Fury Attack

Nature - Timid

Training - N/A

Potential - Orange

Alex looked at the level of the Nidoking assumed that it was a Nidorino that chanced upon a Moon Stone before it was ready. After hearing from Officer Jenny that a Growilthe which evolves from a Fire Stone could be close to evolution or not close to evolution, he did some research. Turns out that evolution is the process by which any Pokemon change into a superior form to increase its power or adapt better to the environment.

Evolution would occur naturally to those Pokemon that do not need any external items or environment after they reached a particular power, capable of enduring the additional power and changes granted by evolution.

But sometimes, due to external factors, Pokemon would evolve way earlier than they should have. For example, a Kakuna needs a month to slowly settle its power and evolve naturally into a Beedrill. But if they are triggered, they could forcefully evolve into Beedrill anytime. But doing this leads to loss of potential.

For Pokemon that live in the wild, especially those that needed stones to evolve, there were plenty of cases where they found evolution stones and evolved before they should have. On the contrary, there were many cases where Pokemon ready for evolution failed to find the proper stones in the wild.

Knowing that this Nidoking evolved prematurely, he started searching for signs of premature Nidoking that he could remember.

"Alright. Now describe in detail what you can observe about this Nidoking"

Alex took a deep breath, went through what he was about to say in his mind, and said. "Nidoking is the final evolution of a male Nidoran. Nidorino needs a Moon Stone to evolve into a Nidoking. This Nidoking is highly underdeveloped. It is about 1 meter tall, which is way less than its average size. Also, its colour is not a deep purple as an average Nidoking's colour should be. Also, the horns on this Nidoking are slightly wet. This should be because this Nidoking has the ability Poison Point. But you should be able to smell the lightly pungent odour of a Nidoking's poison when in an enclosed room. This Nidoking has no detectable odour, which is another reason to believe it is premature. Its limbs are not well developed. It seems to have not undergone much training or exercise. Hence, my guess is that this was a wild Nidorino that chanced upon a Moon Stone shortly after it evolved into Nidorino" said Alex. He then went on to list the moves and features of an average Nidoking, and compared it to this Nidoking.

"And thus, I believe that this Nidoking should have low potential and would not be accepted as by anyone as their trainer, unless it is a breeding house that wants to breed the next generation of Nidoran" concluded Alex after a lengthy monologue.

"NIDO" growled the Nidoking suddenly, startling Alex. He looked at the Nidoking to see it starting at him anger.

Alex looked at the enraged Nidoking and felt bad. He had momentarily forgotten that Pokemon could understand human speech and basically told it to its face that it was worthless except for as a mule for breeding the next generation.

Alex looked at it, feeling bad, and softly muttered, "Sorry."

"Yes. Very good. Now return this Nidoking and pick another Pokeball" said the examiner.

Alex pressed the button on the Pokeball while pointing it at Nidoking and it was sucked into the ball in a red light. He picked up another Pokeball and released it. A blue round Pokemon with a feather-like tail and spiral for a mouth was released. It briefly looked around, and leapt into his arms.

"Poliwag" identified Alex.

"Yes. Now after ten minutes of observation, you can describe all you can about this Poliwag and answer the questions I ask you.

Alex nodded and observed the cute little Pokemon in his arms, and pulled up its stats.

After 10 minutes, he cleared his throat and started.

"A Poliwag is........"

After his explanation, he was asked a question about Poliwag's evolution and its requirements, food habits, and habitat.

He was careful not to speak of Politoed, as it was not discovered yet.