Chapter 225: Unable to Evolve
Lorelei's Poké Ball from the fishing competition was confiscated by her mom, which made her so angry she didn't speak to Will all day.
However, the little girl had also dropped the idea of going to Icefall Cave. As long as that goal was achieved, it was fine.
It wasn't that Icefall Cave was absolutely off-limits, nor was it as dangerous as Will had imagined. Wild Pokémon in this era weren't as aggressive as they used to be. Even if you accidentally wandered into a Pokémon's territory, they were more likely to drive you away than kill you.
Besides, Icefall Cave was the main tourist attraction on Four Island. Most visitors went there. You would often run into other trainers inside, and you could ask them for help if you were in danger.
But it was always better to be safe than sorry. Will had died from carelessness before and had no intention of losing this life over another small mistake.
"Piplup! You're not allowed to talk to me today either!"
Early in the morning, Lorelei stormed over and yelled at Will.
A question mark appeared over Will's head. I wasn't planning on talking to you anyway.
But then he immediately understood. In his past life, when Meowscarada was mad at him, she would do the same thing—come over and say something completely unprompted. It was her way of giving him an opening to apologize.
However, Will wasn't taking the bait.
He continued to sit in front of the TV, swinging his feet.
And wow, you really had to hand it to the TV in the Pokémon world. It was fantastic. Dramas, movies, news... all featuring Pokémon. Will was having the time of his life.
He was especially hooked on his first-ever human-Pokémon romance drama: "The Overbearing Gardevoir Who Loved Me."
Will was so into it that he was even neglecting his training. He never had this much fun back on his original Earth.
"Piplup! You're going to ruin your eyes! I'm telling Mom!"
When Lorelei saw Will ignoring her, she was furious. She stormed straight into her mom's bedroom and tattled.
A moment later, she came out crying, having been thoroughly scolded by her mom, who was not a morning person.
"...Alright, alright, don't cry."
Will sighed. He waddled over and patted Lorelei's leg, comforting the little girl.
"Waaah... Piplup, you're the only one who's nice to me." Lorelei snatched him up in a hug.
"...Haha." Will couldn't help but laugh. Kids really were funny sometimes.
"Oh, right, Mom said it's time to take you to the Pokémon Center for a check-up."
"Huh?"
"All newborn Pokémon have to get a full physical check-up at the Pokémon Center after they're out of their infancy. And you need to be registered."
With that, Lorelei carried Will out the door.
The Pokémon Center in town was small, but it was still staffed by a Nurse Joy. It was hard to imagine just how many Joys there were in the Joy family.
Upon entering, Lorelei called out sweetly, "Good morning, Auntie Joy~"
"Good morning, Lorelei," a gentle voice replied.
Will looked up and raised an eyebrow. The person behind the counter was indeed a Nurse Joy, but she looked to be in her thirties or forties.
Mm, of course. Even the Joy family can't just have hundreds of 20-year-old Joys. Will nodded to himself. This makes more sense.
"Auntie Joy, I brought Piplup for his check-up."
"Oh~ So this is that talented little Piplup! The grandmas at the entrance were just talking about him yesterday."
Joy picked Will up and smiled at him. "Hello there~ I'm Joy~"
The entrance to the Pokémon Center also served as Four Island's "Information Exchange Hub." If anything big happened on this island or any of the others, you'd hear about it here.
"Hello~" Will waved a flipper, sizing up the older Joy. Other than a few fine lines around her eyes, she looked almost identical to the younger Joys. The globally massive Joy family seemed to have perfected the art of staying youthful.
Joy carried Piplup and led Lorelei to an examination room.
"This next part might be a little cold~"
"I'm a Water-type, why would I be afraid of—"
The next second:
"Aiyoo~ That's cold~"
"Pfft!" Lorelei watched the little penguin shivering and burst out laughing.
The check-up was fast. It was only three or four steps, and then they just had to wait for the results. It was much quicker than the check-up Will had gotten back in Azalea Town.
Half an hour later, Will and Lorelei, who had been playing Go, were called back by Nurse Joy.
Her expression was grave as she looked at them, seemingly trying to figure out how to phrase her next words.
"Auntie Joy? Is... is something wrong with Piplup?"
"Yes... there's a small problem." Joy nodded, looking at Lorelei with a strange expression. "Lorelei, what's your goal or dream for the future?"
"I want to be a famous celebrity!"
"And do you want to challenge the regional League, or participate in Pokémon Contests?"
"Challenge the League, of course!" Lorelei said without hesitation. Contests were pretty, but she didn't think they were cool or exciting enough.
Joy sighed and shook her head.
Will watched from the sidelines, saying nothing, as if this had nothing to do with him. He could already guess what Joy was about to say.
"To be honest, Lorelei... Piplup is missing a few picograms of DNA. He has lost the ability to evolve. And the only person in the world who had the ability to restore genes... was Professor Platane."
"Then where can we find this Professor?" Lorelei asked anxiously. She hugged Will tightly, her worry almost suffocating him.
"If nothing's changed, she's already dead," Will muttered internally.
And Nurse Joy's next words were just as he expected.
"Professor Platane was from the Kalos region, but she passed away over a hundred years ago. And for some reason, she didn't leave behind any of her 'Primal Reversion Project' research. She destroyed every last bit of it."
Joy shook her head in regret, her voice full of confusion.
"Ah? Does that mean Piplup can't be fixed? Waaah..." Lorelei's lip quivered, her nose turned red, and she was on the verge of tears.
"No, no, don't say that, I'm fine."
Smack, smack!
Will quickly reached out and patted Lorelei's mouth.
He didn't know why Platane had destroyed her research, but he knew what kind of person she was. If that research was destroyed, it must have had some major flaw, something that could have caused great harm to future generations. Perhaps... she had even forbidden her own descendants from continuing the research.
"The only fortunate thing is, Piplup's body has no other major problems," Joy said, relieved. "Besides being unable to evolve, there will be no other side effects."
The Joy family, aside from their battle-focused branches, didn't really care about a Pokémon's strength. They focused more on their physical and mental well-being. As long as a Pokémon was healthy, that was what mattered most.
But she had seen many trainers who, in their blind pursuit of strength, had hurt or even abandoned their Pokémon. From what she knew of Lorelei, she didn't think she was that kind of person, but she was still worried that this news would make her value Piplup less.
However...
"That's GREAT!! WAAHAHAHA!!"
Hearing this, Lorelei leaped to her feet. She grabbed Will and spun around the examination room.
"Huh?" Joy was completely baffled. Why was she so happy?
"I knew it."
Will, on the other hand, sighed, not surprised at all.
Others might not know, but he did. From the first moment Lorelei brought him home, he had sensed something unusual in her gaze. Later, when he slept in her room and saw it was filled with cute, fluffy plush toys, he had guessed it.
Lorelei loved his small, cute form. She probably would have been very disappointed if he had evolved.
And now, finding out he couldn't evolve and wasn't sick... the kid was overjoyed.
She wasn't even thinking about how hard her Pokémon League path would be now.
"Lorelei, Piplup's level... it might increase very slowly, you know?"
"That's okay! No matter how long it takes, I'll always be with Piplup! I believe that as long as we work hard together, we can absolutely achieve our dream!"
Lorelei held Will up, kissing him over and over.
"You mean your dream," Will thought, pushing her face away with a look of mock disgust.
He wasn't surprised by her reaction. His Aura Power allowed him to sense the good or bad in a person. While "wanting power" wasn't a good measure of a person's character, someone who would abandon their Pokémon was definitely not a "good person."
Lorelei was, at her core, a pure-hearted, good kid.
"Hehe, you and Piplup have such a wonderful bond. You'll definitely become a great trainer one day!"
Joy smiled warmly and patted Lorelei's head. She then added, "The champion of the very first League Conference once said, 'If your Pokémon likes you, then you will definitely become an excellent trainer.'"
"I know! That was Mr. Rowan, right?" Lorelei shot her little hand up.
"That's right. You know a lot, Lorelei. So, as long as you keep treating Piplup this well, he'll like you more and more, and you'll become a better and better trainer."
"I know! I love Piplup the most! Mwah!"
Lorelei gave Will another kiss.
"Okay, the check-up is all done. That's all. Remember to tell your mom and dad when you get home."
"Mhm~"
Lorelei replied, then left the Pokémon Center, hugging Will.
Three minutes later...
"Huh?! What are you doing?! This isn't the way home!"
"Heehee, Piplup, look... I stole the Poké Ball back from Mom's bedroom."
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