Chapter 111: The Bond Between Humans and Pokémon

"I see, then do you know how you evolved into what you are now?"

Seeing with his own eyes that the Scyther has another evolved form besides Scizor, Yang Yan couldn't deny his curiosity about how Scyther evolved into its current form.

However, Kudo Osamu did not record this in his notebook, meaning that Scyther had not evolved before Kudo Osamu passed away. In other words, Scyther evolved during its time surviving here.

Yang Yan had learned some things about the Alola region before traveling. For example, Pokémon could change depending on the environment they were in.

This change not only affected their appearance but also their attributes.

Could it be that this Scyther did not evolve into a Scizor due to the special environmental conditions here? Or is this what a Scizor in this area looks like?

Yang Yan couldn't figure it out, and Kleavor himself would need to explain it.

Kleavor seemed to know that Yang Yan would ask this question, so when Yang Yan asked, it took out a piece of stone and handed it to him, making some gestures.

Yang Yan took the stone and asked tentatively, "Did you evolve into what you are now after coming into contact with this stone?"

Kleavor nodded.

"So that's it." Yang Yan lowered his head and shone his flashlight around, trying to understand the significance of this stone. Unfortunately, after looking at it for a long time, he couldn't figure it out: "This doesn't seem to be an Evolution Stone or anything like that, but it has a similar effect."

Yang Yan then asked Kleavor, "How did you get this piece of stone?"

Kleavor pointed at Yang Yan.

"Me?" Yang Yan looked surprised. "What does it have to do with me?"

Kleavor approached Yang Yan and pointed at his backpack.

"Is it related to something in my bag?" Yang Yan raised his eyebrows. After meeting Kleavor, the only things he had taken out were a flashlight, food, and water. The stone seemed unique to this place, and he hadn't collected anything here, right?

Wait—there was something!

Yang Yan's eyes widened. "Is it the graveler? Did it come from that?"

Kleavor nodded again.

Yang Yan quickly took out the Poké Ball containing the graveler and released it.

Because it had been punished earlier, graveler didn't resist when it came out and allowed Yang Yan to inspect it thoroughly.

Unfortunately, Yang Yan didn't find any similar stone fragments on graveler.

"Could it be that only a small part of Longlong Stones have this material?" Yang Yan looked at Kleavor again. "This piece of stone isn't the complete item that allowed you to evolve, is it?"

Kleavor gestured to Yang Yan again.

After a challenging conversation, Yang Yan began to understand more about this peculiar stone.

First of all, the stone that allowed Scyther to evolve was much larger than the piece he now held. Kleavor had spent considerable time searching for it, but unfortunately, it only found this fragment, never locating the complete stone.

When Yang Yan asked Kleavor if he could have the stone, Kleavor readily agreed. It no longer needed the stone, so it didn't mind giving it to Yang Yan. What was more important was for Yang Yan to complete the trial and bring back Kudo Osamu's ashes.

Yang Yan carefully put the stone away. This was a significant discovery. If it could be studied, it could mean that he had uncovered a new evolutionary form. The potential benefits were enormous!

"It's still unclear whether this stone only affects Scyther or if it can influence other Pokémon, or if similar stones can be found elsewhere..."

Yang Yan's thoughts raced. The discovery was truly exciting!

"By the way, you had a companion, right? Where's Flareon? Weren't you two together?"

Once his excitement calmed, Yang Yan remembered that Kudo Osamu also had a Flareon in addition to Scyther.

Logically, if Scyther had survived this long, Flareon should have too. But Yang Yan hadn't seen Flareon.

At Yang Yan's words, Kleavor walked over to the rock wall on the other side. In Yang Yan's puzzled gaze, Kleavor swung its powerful axes and, with a "bang," shattered the rock.

Yang Yan was surprised; he hadn't expected that to be possible.

Kleavor signaled for Yang Yan to follow. Once inside, Yang Yan understood.

There were two donphan carcasses in the space. It seemed Kleavor had cleared this space as a food storage area.

In front of the donphan corpses, Yang Yan spotted two Poké Balls.

Earlier, Yang Yan had wondered why Kudo Osamu hadn't kept any Poké Balls in his bag. He thought Kudo Osamu might have destroyed them before his death. But now, he saw that only Kleavor's and Flareon's Poké Balls remained—the others must have been destroyed.

Kleavor approached and opened one of the Poké Balls. After a flash of white light, Flareon appeared.

After yawning and glancing at Kleavor, Flareon perked up immediately when it spotted Yang Yan behind Kleavor.

It ran to Yang Yan and barked happily.

Although Yang Yan couldn't understand Flareon's words, he could sense its emotions.

Yang Yan knelt down, stroked Flareon's head, and smiled softly. "Don't worry, Flareon, I'll take you with me."

Flareon barked at him a few more times before walking past him toward Kudo Osamu's urn. It gently rubbed against the urn, as though it could feel Kudo Osamu's presence.

Finally, Flareon lay down quietly beside the urn and didn't move.

"Kudo Osamu, it seems that your bond with your Pokémon was incredibly deep… very deep..."

Whether it was Kleavor leading him here or Flareon's behavior, Yang Yan felt a profound emotional impact.

"Is this the bond between humans and Pokémon?"

At some point, Yang Yan's eyes had become misty...