Chapter 103

"Unfortunately, I don't know much myself. I mainly ran experiments according to instruction and helped in some miscellaneous jobs. That all" texted Alex.

"Alright. Do tell me if there is something interesting" she texted.

That ended the conversation.

Alex wasn't really worried about the exposure of the fact the research was about the randomness of Pokemon stats. He knew the Nature Table and Berry Chart, yet took 6 months to complete the step by step experiments. For those that didn't know, it may take years. This was the reason it was not researched by any party before. There was no foreseeable reward for the years of effort put in. And no one could be sure if any result could be obtained at all, if there was a pattern or if it was all truly random.

Alex was willing to take on this project, first because he knew the eventual results, and knew that they were not random, and thus would take only as long as he wanted to take, and secondly, this was a huge project which while had no monetary value had an enormous impact. This could propel the name Research Burns to get him a place among the heavy weight scientific community, and would be a strong base for his eventual attempt, if any, at Professor Burns.

Two months later, Alex had finished confirming the Nature Table and Berry Table on Rattata. He had performed the same tests, although not comprehensively on a bunch of other Pokemon. He had statistical proof about yeh Nature Table and the Berry Chart. He had completed the Nature changing experiments too.

"So the Berry Chart and Nature Table are accurate without doubt and ready for publishing. But the results of the Nature changing experiments concern me" said Alex to Professor Oak.

"Tell me about it" replied the Professor.

"Well, Nature is not fixed. It's a personality trait. The stat affected by the Nature has to do with the Pokemon's desire and expectations themselves. For example, my Charmeleon has a Rash Nature. It desires to attack and connect as soon as possible. Hence, its special attack is boosted. Consequently, its defences at a distance will be compromised, thus reducing its special defence. Similarly, a Pokemon with a Careful Nature would be wary of long distance attacks, and hence its special defence is higher. As is more concerned with defending long distance attacks, those capacities of themselves take a hit, and thus its special attack suffers" said Alex.

"Continue" gestured the Professor.

"Since Nature are personality traits, they can be changed. A Pokemon, like a person can change personality traits, depending upon their experience. The Shiny Beldum for example, was of a Lonley Nature when I first met it, the reason self explanatory. But now, it frequently spends time with me and my Pokemon, and it's not lonely anyone. Rather, it keeps testing what little Psychic powers it has against my Dark capabilities, and has thus transformed into a Naughty Nature" said Alex.

"So Nature transformation is gradual, corresponding to the changes in personality traits of the Pokemon?" asked the Professor.

"The gradual part is not that accurate. It will happen naturally, in a gradual manner, but artificial intervention can speed up the process" said Alex.

"Do you have data regarding that theory?" asked Professor Oak.

"Yes I do. I used the Berry Chart to determine two Rattata with Brave Nature and two with Timid Nature. I first isolated them I then fed one pair a fresh berry that is sweet and a rotting berry that is spicy for the Brave Nature Pokemon, and vice versa. The Pokemon ate the fresh berry they disliked unhappily, even if this was done for a long time. This means that Berry Chart can be used only for identification purposes, and cannot affect the Nature of Pokemon themselves.

In the other experiment, I let Caterpie supported by the Psychic powers of Alakazam constantly bully a Rattata with Brave Nature, and had a Beedrill run from a Rattata with Timid Nature. Their nature's changed after a few days and dozens of such encounters to the opposite Nature" said Alex.

"Well! These are great results. Are you worried about trainers randomly bullying Pokemon to have them change to a beneficial nature?" asked the Professor.

"That was one of my concerns. But not the main one. I have a much bigger concern" said Alex.

"What is it?" asked Professor Oak.

"Well, as an experiment, I took a particularly feral Rattata with a Rash Nature. At that time, I had done the previous experiments, so I had an idea for a new one. I asked Alakazam to use its Psychic powers to change its Nature to a Gentle one. To my great surprise Professor, it worked. That Rattata's nature changed into a Gentle Nature. Its berry preferences changed along with it too. I asked Alakazam to do the same for a few Raticate near Pallet Town. Alakazam succeeded, and converted all the Raticate it encountered to have a Gentle Nature. Including the near Elite stage Raticate which is in the forests east of Pallet Town. And Alakazam told me while most of the Rattata and weaker Raticate were fairly easy to manipulate and change Natures, the stronger Raticate were more difficult. And as for the close to Elite stage Raticate, Alakazam almost failed and caused its mind to shatter. And for any of the Rattata or Raticate it did this experiment upon, Alakazam felt that a slight misstep could result in permanent damage to the thinking capacity of the receptor Pokemon!" said Alex.

"This means there is the possibility that people will leave a large number of Pokemon to a fate worse than death trying to change its Nature to a beneficial one!" he said solemnly.